Short answers, pulled from the story.
FedEx was founded by Frederick W. Smith in 1971 in Little Rock, Arkansas, as Federal Express Corporation. Smith had originally outlined the concept in a term paper at Yale University. He moved operations to Memphis in 1973, choosing Memphis International Airport for its central location and calm weather.
The FedEx logo contains a right-pointing arrow hidden in the negative space between the letters E and X. Designer Lindon Leader of Landor Associates created it in 1994 by developing a proprietary typeface based on Univers and Futura, engineered specifically to form the arrow shape. Leader said the arrow represented FedEx getting from point A to point B reliably with speed and precision.
FedEx expanded into ground, freight, and logistics through a series of acquisitions. The 1998 acquisition of Caliber System brought RPS (later FedEx Ground), Viking Freight, Roberts Express, and Caliber Logistics into the company. FedEx further acquired Kinko's in 2004 for retail access and TNT Express in 2015 for 4.4 billion euros to grow its European operations.
FedEx provided access to its facilities in Memphis, Los Angeles, and Moscow, along with aircraft, trucks, uniforms, and logistical support for the production of Cast Away. CEO Fred Smith appeared as himself in the film. FedEx paid nothing for the placement and saw increased brand awareness in Asia and Europe following the film's release.
In June 2019, FedEx diverted Huawei packages destined for Asia to FedEx's headquarters in the United States without authorization, shortly after Huawei was placed on the U.S. Entity List. China filed a case against FedEx over the incident. By July 2019, Chinese regulators accused FedEx of holding back more than 100 packages Huawei was trying to deliver to China.
FedEx announced in early March 2021 a commitment to carbon-neutral operations by 2040, backed by a 2 billion dollar investment in sustainable energy. The plan includes 100 million dollars for a Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture, an all-electric ground fleet by 2040, and FedEx becoming the first customer to receive General Motors' electric Zevo delivery vans. The company's operations emitted approximately 15.7 million metric tons of CO2-equivalent in fiscal year 2024.