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What is Fred Smith’s Net Worth?
Fred Smith is an American CEO and entrepreneur who has a net worth of $6 billion. Fred Smith is the founder and chairman of FedEx Corporation. He stepped down as CEO in June 2022 to become executive chairman and was replaced by Raj Subramaniam. Smith is widely regarded as one of the most successful transportation entrepreneurs in the world.
Early Life
Frederick Wallace Smith was born on August 11, 1944, in Marks, Mississippi. His father, James Frederick “Fred” Smith, founded the Toddle House restaurant chain and the Smith Motor Coach Company, later renamed the Dixie Greyhound Lines after The Greyhouse Corporation bought controlling interest in 1931. But the elder Smith passed away when Fred was just four years old, and his mother and uncles raised him. Fred grew up battling a bone disease until he was ten years old. Within five years of becoming healthy, he was a star football player in his local community and learned to fly as an amateur pilot.
Smith attended Yale University where he wrote a mediocrely received economics paper that would later serve as the idea that inspired his global brand, FedEx. He graduated from Yale in 1966 as a fraternity brother of future President George W. Bush. He spent three years in the U.S. Marine Corps before his honorable discharge in 1969. The decorated veteran earned two Purple Hearts, a Silver Star, and a Bronze Star while in the service. Two years later, Smith took his inheritance and some investment money and founded Federal Express.
FedEx
In June 1971, Fred Smith founded Federal Express with his $4 million inheritance (worth around $23 million today) and raised $91 million in venture capital. By 1973, the business serviced 25 U.S. cities with fourteen jets. However, the early years were tough for the company, and Smith reportedly took the business’ dwindling bank account to Vegas where he was able to earn enough to pay the bills in blackjack. Headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, FedEx is today one of the biggest overnight express delivery companies in the world.
While CEO in 2008, Smith earned a total compensation of $10.4 million, including a base salary of $1.4 million, a cash bonus of $2.7 million, and options granted of $5.5 million. In 2009, he earned more than $7.7 million in salary. In March 2022, Fred Smith announced he was stepping down as CEO to become executive chairman and named long-time FedEx executive Raj Subramaniam his successor.
STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP/Getty Images
Other Ventures
Smith is the co-owner of the NFL’s Washington Redskins, has worked on the board for companies such as the Mayo Foundation and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and was inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame. Though apparently offered a job as U.S. Defense Secretary upon Bush’s election, Smith declined.
Personal Life
Fred Smith married his first wife, Linda Black, in 1969, and they divorced in 1977. He and his second wife, Dianne Avis, have eight children together.
In 2016, one of their children, Cannon Smith, married Collins Tuohy, the daughter of Sean Tuohy and Leigh Anne Tuohy, of “The Blind Side” fame.
Smith was part of the list of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders by “Fortune Magazine” in early 2014. He has also battled several legal issues, including a forgery indictment and involvement in a deadly hit-and-run.
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