Bradley Jacobs | $10B+
Get in touch with Bradley Jacobs | Bradley “Brad” Jacobs is an American serial entrepreneur and dealmaker renowned for founding and steering multiple multibillion‑dollar companies—including United Waste, United Rentals, XPO Logistics, GXO, RXO, and now QXO. He’s completed more than 500 acquisitions across logistics, waste, and equipment rental, introducing an unusual leadership style focused on meditation, employee bonding, and operational rigor. His latest move: an $11 billion takeover of Beacon Roofing Supply, as QXO aims for a $50 billion revenue platform.
Brad Jacobs (born August 3, 1956) is an American businessman who serves as chairman and CEO of QXO, Inc.[1][2][3] In addition, he is executive chairman of XPO, Inc.,[4][5] and non-executive chairman of GXO Logistics, Inc.,[6] a spin-off company from XPO.[7]
Brad Jacobs
Born August 3, 1956 (age 68)
Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.
Education Northfield Mount Hermon School
Alma mater Bennington College
Brown University
Occupation Businessman
Contents
Career
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Jacobs has created eight companies, six of which are publicly traded: QXO (2024); XPO (2011) and its spin-offs, GXO Logistics (2021) and RXO (2022); United Rentals (1997); and United Waste Systems, now Waste Management (1989).[8] He has completed about 500 M&A transactions.[9]
In 1979,[10] Jacobs co-founded Amerex Oil Associates, an oil brokerage firm.[11] Jacobs was the company's CEO until it was sold in 1983.[12][13] In 1984, Jacobs moved to London and founded Hamilton Resources, where he conducted oil trading deals.[13] Jacobs has frequently recognized Ludwig Jesselson as an influential mentor.[14][15]
In 1989, Jacobs founded United Waste Systems in Greenwich, Connecticut, and began consolidating small waste collection companies that had overlapping routes in rural areas. Jacobs was chairman and chief executive officer, and in 1992 he took the company public.[16][17] Jacobs sold United Waste Systems to USA Waste Services for $2.5 billion in August 1997.[12]
In September 1997, Jacobs formed United Rentals, and became the new company's chairman and chief executive officer.[18] During late 1997 and early 1998, Jacobs grew the company through a strategy of consolidating equipment rental dealers in North America.[19][20] He took the company public in December 1997 on the New York Stock Exchange.[14][21]
In 2011, Jacobs invested approximately $150 million in XPO (then named Express-1 Expedited Solutions), a transportation and third-party logistics provider.[22][23] He became chairman of the board[24][6] and CEO[25][26] and gained ownership of approximately 71 percent of the company.[27] The company was later listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol XPO.[28] In August 2021, XPO completed its spin-off of GXO Logistics, and Jacobs became non-executive chairman of GXO's board of directors.[29][30][31] In August 2022, Jacobs announced plans to step aside as CEO of XPO but remain executive chairman.[32][6] In 2024, he published his book How to Make a Few Billion Dollars.[33]
In June 2024, Jacobs founded QXO with the intention to consolidate the $800 billion building products distribution industry.[34][35] With the launch, he raised over $5 billion in equity,[36][37] including what Bloomberg described as the largest equity offering ever in the building products sector and the largest ever private investment in public equity (PIPE) for an industrial company.[37][38]
Jacobs is a member of The Business Council in Washington, D.C.[39][40]
Bibliography
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How to Make a Few Billion Dollars. Austin: Greenleaf Book Group Press, 2024. ISBN 979-8886451740[41]
Personal life
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Jacobs was born in Providence, Rhode Island, the son of Charlotte Sybil (née Bander) and Albert Jordan Jacobs.[42][43] His father was a fashion jewelry importer.[43] He graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon School and then went on to attend Bennington College and Brown University and studied math and music; however, he dropped out in 1976.[44][45]
Jacobs and his wife live in Greenwich, Connecticut.[14] They have four children.[46] Jacobs is an art collector with works by Picasso, de Kooning, Calder, Lichtenstein and others.
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