Home Depot Considers Buying $9 Billion Logistics Co.: So Amazon Doesn't Get It

As retailers like Home Depot and Walmart hone their ecommerce strategies, Amazon is developing its bricks-and-mortar counter-thrust.

Eventually they will all look alike, but who most effectively executes the plan will determine the ultimate winners and losers. JL


Jason Del Rey reports in Re/code:

XPO is best known as the company that manages the home delivery of heavy items such as furniture and appliances. The company calls itself “the largest provider of last-mile logistics for heavy goods in North America.” Amazon has taken more control of its logistics, buying cargo airlines, handling more package delivery itself and leasing thousands of trucks. If Home Depot were to make an offer, one impetus would be to keep XPO out of the hands of Amazon — which (it) believes has also considered buying.

Home Depot has held internal discussions in recent months about a potential acquisition bid for XPO, a $9 billion publicly traded company that offers transportation, delivery and other logistics services for big retailers and brands, according to a person familiar with Home Depot’s thinking.

If Home Depot were to make an offer, one main impetus would be to keep XPO out of the hands of Amazon — which the home improvement retailer believes has also considered buying the logistics company, the source said.

Recode could not independently confirm Amazon’s interest in XPO, or if either Home Depot or Amazon have held talks with XPO. Both Home Depot and Amazon have been customers of XPO.

Spokespeople for all three companies declined to comment.

While XPO offers a wide range of logistics and freight transportation services, it is probably best known to consumers as the company that manages the home delivery of heavy items such as furniture and appliances for retailers. The company calls itself “the largest provider of last-mile logistics for heavy goods in North America.”

Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reported that XPO was one of the main companies Amazon planned to work with as it made a big push in furniture sales.

Over the last few years, Amazon has taken over more control of its logistics, buying stakes in cargo airlines, handling more package delivery itself and leasing thousands of its own truck trailers.

In 2015, XPO bought the trucking company Con-way for $3 billion, giving it a large fleet of its own trucks to offer freight transportation services. That same year, Home Depot named XPO the “Mid-Size Truckload Carrier of the Year,” according to an XPO press release.