10 Things You Didn't Know about XPO Logistics CEO Bradley Jacobs

If you’ve been watching finance news lately, chances are you’ve heard of XPO Logistics CEO Bradley Jacobs. He is also the managing director for Jacobs Private Equity, LLC. Over the years, he’s built a reputation for being a savvy businessman with a knack for consolidating companies in the equipment rental, waste management, and logistics industries. He is actually quite an intriguing man. To prove this point, we present you with 10 things you didn’t know about XPO Logistics CEO Bradley Jacobs:

1. A former employee alleges that he asked staff members to create fake reviews

In a review posted on Glassdoor.com, a former employee alleges that Jacobs sent an email to his workers asking them to write good reviews about XPO in order to cover up the bad ones.

2. He’s a college dropout

He studied briefly at both Bennington College and Brown University. However, in his early 20s, he dropped out to become of the two founders of a New Jersey oil trading business called Amerex Oil Associates, Inc. By the time, the firm was sold (just 4 years later) it’s annual gross contact volume was almost $5 billion.

3. He is one of the richest men in America

It’s obvious the Jacobs is rich. But, do you have any idea how rich? Jacobs is worth over $2 billion. In fact, he made Forbes’ list of the 400 richest people in America in 2018.

4. He bet millions that he would make billions

It all started in 2011 when his family investment firm gave him approximately $63 million to gain control of Express-1, a freight expediter based out of Michigan. He changed the name to XPO and, just 4 more years later, he’d spent $7 billion to get 17 companies. By the time he was finished, XPO was worth well over $10 billion.

5. He’s an entrepreneurial genius

Jacobs’ track record in the business world is nothing short of amazing. He started 5 business from scratch and each one has generated at least a billion dollars in profit. Furthermore, he’s personally led about 250 cold starts and 500 acquisitions over the course of his career and raised over $20 billion in capital.

6. He is Trump’s next door neighbor

Jacobs owns a 17,000 square foot waterfront mansion in Palm Beach. It’s just a short walk away from Mar-a-Lago, one of President Trump’s favorite properties.

7. Math and music taught him how to be a successful entrepreneur

Many don’t know that Jacobs studied math and piano while in college. He believes this is his secret to success. In his opinion, these subjects taught him how to think about abstract ideas and ways to make them fit together.

8. He has a thing for classical art

Jacobs starter modern art collection would make any art lover instantly green with envy. This collection includes works by Lichtenstein, Calder, de Kooning, and the legendary Picasso.

9. Oil led him to his love

After selling Amerex, Jacobs moved to London and started another oil trading company there. This is how he met his wife, Lamia, an oil trader herself. Today, they are married and have four children.

10. One of his companies was responsible for taking your trash out in the early 90s

Jacobs founded United Waste Systems Inc. as a way to consolidate the small garbage collectors in Greenwich, CT with overlapping routes. Not long after, it’d grown to become one of the largest solid waste companies in the United States.

Random facts

In case you’re hungry for more, here are some interesting facts you didn’t about Jacobs:

He was a member of the board of the Beck Institute of Cognitive Behavior Therapy
He is a Leo
He’s the owner of United Rentals, one of the largest equipment rental companies in the US
He owns a 50-acre estate in Greenwich
He was born in Rhode Island
His father imported jewelry for a living

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