There are 36 article(s) tagged Fred Smith:

• June 2025

  • Southwest program will help new pilots climb through ranks faster

    A designation for Southwest Tennessee Community College from the Federal Aviation Administration will provide training in school instead of while accumulating hours in a cockpit.

    By Jody Callahan June 26, 2025

  • Calkins: Nobody can replace Fred Smith. (But he told us how to handle this, too.)

    It’s impossible to imagine Memphis without Fred Smith. So what happens next? 

    Related content: 

    ‘Most important Memphian of all time’ has died

    By Geoff Calkins June 23, 2025

  • ‘Most important Memphian of all time’ has died

    FedEx founder and executive chairman Frederick W. Smith, who changed the face of global commerce and his adopted hometown of Memphis, has died at age 80.

    By Samuel Hardiman June 23, 2025

  • Area leaders react to the death of Fred Smith

    Reactions from across Memphis poured in after the death of FedEx founder Frederick W. Smith.

    By The Daily Memphian Staff June 23, 2025

  • Memphis airport could soon bear FedEx founder’s name

    The Memphis and Shelby County Airport Authority will introduce plan to rename Memphis’ airport in honor of the aviator, businessman and hometown hero Fred Smith. 

    By Jane Roberts June 23, 2025

  • FedEx at 50: Why Memphis? An answer through the fog

    Fred Smith has given several reasons for moving his young company to Memphis: the city’s central location, help from the Memphis International Airport and the area’s operational weather.

    By Rob Moore June 22, 2025

  • Trump tariffs concern FedEx founder Fred Smith

    Smith estimated FedEx is “the biggest tax collector of tariffs by any entity in America” based on what it is transporting.

    By Sophia Surrett June 05, 2025

• October 2024

  • Calkins: Richard Smith on crime, conference realignment and how the Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium gift happened

    Richard Smith was as surprised as anyone when Fred Smith, his father, decided the family would give $50 million to help renovate the stadium. Here’s Smith on crime, Ja Morant, conference realignment and how that gift came to be.

    By Geoff Calkins October 23, 2024

• February 2024

  • Vote for the high school boys basketball player of the week, Week 11

    Standouts from Briarcrest, Douglass, FACS, Hillcrest and Ridgeway are up for consideration. 

    By John Varlas February 19, 2024

  • Vote for the high school boys basketball player of the week, Week 8

    Standouts from Briarcrest, CBHS, Hillcrest, Ridgeway and Sheffield are up for consideration this week. 

    By John Varlas February 04, 2024

• January 2024

  • Calkins: Veatch on the stadium, the realignment — and the Smiths’ gift

    Laird Veatch, the University of Memphis athletic director, is finally getting his hands on a football stadium and $120 million. Now all he has to do is raise another $50 million and figure out how to rebuild his new stadium on the fly. 

    By Geoff Calkins January 10, 2024

• November 2023

  • Calkins: Fred Smith and family ride to the rescue (with $50 million) to forge a stunning stadium deal

    “Who put an end to the stadium fracas? Fred Smith and family, of course.”

    Related story: 

    FedEx founder to help fund Liberty Stadium renovations; U of M could control stadium

    By Geoff Calkins November 27, 2023

  • How the proposed Liberty Stadium deal will work and could unlock FedExForum

    The complex deal clears the path to focus on FedExForum improvements.

    Related story:

    FedEx founder to help fund Liberty Stadium renovations; U of M could control stadium

    By Samuel Hardiman November 22, 2023

  • FedEx founder to help fund Liberty Stadium renovations; U of M could control stadium

    In something of a domino effect, the Smith family donation for the Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium will free up cash for the Memphis Grizzlies and the City of Memphis to do renovations at FedExForum. 

    Related story: 

    Calkins: Fred Smith rides to the rescue (with $50 million) to forge a stunning stadium deal

    By Samuel Hardiman November 21, 2023

• August 2023

  • FedEx CEO to earn a new base salary of more than $1M

    The increase will bring Raj Subramaniam’s base salary, first set in 2022 months after he took leadership of the company, from $1.3 million to $1.45 million. 

    By Rob Moore August 10, 2023

• January 2023

  • FedEx’s Fred Smith says ‘Devotion’ story ‘just struck a chord with me’

    The FedEx founder financed the film, about the first Black aviator to complete the U.S. Navy’s basic flight training program, and is donating the movie’s proceeds to the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation. 

    By Rob Moore January 13, 2023

• November 2022

  • Calkins: Why have the Showboats returned to Memphis? Answer: Fred Smith.

    Why are the Showboats returning to Memphis? The answer involves Fred Smith. And even if the team doesn’t flourish, its existence can only help the city. Here’s why.

    By Geoff Calkins November 16, 2022

• October 2022

  • Smith: Economy ‘maybe stagflation’

    At last night’s Freedom Awards, FedEx Corp. founder Fred Smith talked about the economy and highlighted longtime staff members; two Pulitzer Prize-winning authors spoke about the time it takes to write about history. 

    By Bill Dries October 21, 2022

  • Pulitzer Prize-winning author talks ‘return migration’ at NCRM’s Freedom Awards

    All three recipients of the National Civil Rights Museum’s annual Freedom Awards talked at the Thursday, Oct. 20, ceremony about the present divisions in America and the way forward.

    By Bill Dries October 21, 2022

• September 2022

  • FedEx shareholders approve board of directors, executive compensation

    Shareholders approved the company’s 15 nominees to the FedEx board of directors, including two who were named to the board following an agreement between FedEx and activist investor D. E. Shaw, and compensation for the company’s executive officers. 

    By Rob Moore September 19, 2022

• July 2022

  • Historic Dixie Greyhound Station, Schlitz Brewery to see new life

    The $44 million Uptown redevelopment project is expected to begin later this summer. But the original office of Dixie Greyhound chairman James Frederick Smith — his title still on the door — will be kept much as it is today. 

    By Neil Strebig July 19, 2022

• June 2022

  • Filing reveals annual pay for Fred Smith, new FedEx CEO

    An SEC filing reveals how much Raj Subramaniam and FedEx founder Fred Smith will earn in their new roles. 

    By Rob Moore June 18, 2022

• May 2022

  • FedEx is modernizing its aircraft fleet, making new partnerships

    While FedEx has been working on modernization efforts for a couple of years, the COVID pandemic and related shipping demands prolonged the timeline. 

    By Rob Moore May 02, 2022

• April 2022

  • Bluff City Biz: Future of FedEx and Blue Oval City with Bo Allen

    “It’s hard for me to believe that anyone has done more for Memphis than Fred Smith,” Bo Allen, First Horizon regional president for West Tennessee, Arkansas and North Mississippi, said. 

    By Rob Moore April 04, 2022

• March 2022

  • Raj Subramaniam to succeed Fred Smith as president and CEO of FedEx Corp.

    FedEx announces the next president and CEO following founder Frederick W. Smith’s tenure. 

    By Neil Strebig, Rob Moore March 28, 2022