1648505308 FedEx founder Fred Smith steps down as CEO

FedEx founder Fred Smith steps down as CEO

Here are your FOX Business Flash top headlines for March 28th.

FedEx founder Frederick W. Smith will step down as chairman and chief executive officer, effective June 1, the company announced Monday.

Smith will become executive chairman and Raj Subramaniam will be promoted to president and CEO, the company said.

FedEx founder Fred Smith steps down as CEO

Frederick W. Smith, left, and Raj Subramaniam. (Business Wire via AP)

“FedEx has changed the world by connecting people and opportunities for the past 50 years,” Smith said in a statement. “As we look to the future, I am very pleased that a leader of the caliber of Raj Subramaniam will lead FedEx into a very successful future.”

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Smith said he will focus on global issues such as sustainability, innovation and public policy.

Subramaniam called Smith a “visionary leader and a legend in the business world.”

1648505307 339 FedEx founder Fred Smith steps down as CEO

A cargo plane is seen on the tarmac at FedEx Corp.’s distribution center on Monday, December 15, 2014. refueled at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in Los Angeles, California, United States. (Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“He founded one of the largest and most admired companies in the world and I am honored and privileged to take on this role and build on what he created,” said Subramaniam.

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Smith founded FedEx in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1971 to deliver small packages and documents faster than the Post Office could. Over the next half-century he oversaw the growth of a company that combined air and ground services and became something of an economic pioneer by serving other companies.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.