Greed led to trucking company's downfall
In 2003 after 75 years in the trucking business and with merger mania taking hold in many industrial and service fields, YRC Worldwide bit the bullet and purchased Roadway, it's largest less-than-truckload competitor based in Akron, Ohio. Why would it be any different for two companies, each with $3 billion annual revenue, providing a similar nationwide freight business? Other companies in computers, banks, pharmaceuticals, telecomms all merged or acquired competitors -- all in the name of "improving shareholder wealth." Think HP buying Compaq, or Glaxo Wellcome acquiring SmithKlineBeecham. Anyone who's been employed by a company that was acquired knows they are at risk of losing their job, no matter what executives say to dispel rumors or low morale. The bottomline is that to improve the bottomline means reducing "redundant systems" like payroll departments, accounting applications, data centers, you name it. In 2005 when Yellow-Roadway bought regional ca...