GXO Logistics CEO Wilson will retire in 2025

Greenwich, Conn.-based global contract logistics services provider GXO Logistics Inc. said late yesterday that Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Wilson has informed the company’s board of directors he will retire from his position in 2025.

Wilson took on the CEO role in August 2021. Since then, GXO said the company has grown to 130,000 employees and more than 200 million square feet of facility space in the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific. Under his leadership, GXO was active on the M&A front, in acquiring Clipper Logistics and Wincanton, and others, including PFSweb.

What’s more, GXO said that during Wilson’s tenure as CEO, the company increased revenue from $7.9 billion in 2021 to $11 billion in the twelve months ended September 30, 2024; increased adjusted EBITDA from $633 million in 2021 to $757 million in the twelve months ended September 30, 2024; and achieved a return on invested capital of more than 30% per year.

“Malcolm’s countless contributions to GXO and its legacy parent XPO span nearly a decade,” said Brad Jacobs, chairman of the GXO Board of Directors, in a statement. “Under his leadership, GXO has added more than $3 billion of revenue and received global recognitions each year for innovation and workplace culture. Our incoming CEO will inherit a best-in-class management team and strong industry positioning, while Malcolm will embark on a well-deserved retirement. I fully support this decision and wish him all the best.” 

And, in the same statement, Wilson said his time at GXO has been the highlight of his three decades in logistics.

“We have an outstanding organization that embraces new technologies, keeping us at the forefront of the industry,” he said. “I’m grateful to the team and our customers for their support—and I look forward to working with the Board to ensure the company is in excellent hands.”

TD Cowen analyst Jason Seidl wrote in a research note that news of Wilson’s pending departure came as a surprise both inside and outside of GXO, with GXO stressing how continuity was emphasized in recent investor meetings with his firm.

“Last month Bloomberg (unsubstantiated) announced that GXO had hired an investment bank to explore a sale process,” wrote Seidl. “GXO never commented on the potential sale process and did not attribute the departure to any recent company events. Bloomberg reported Tuesday evening that the CEO transition may be somehow related to acquisition talks that fell apart. While GXO also continues to work its way through regulatory hurdles for its acquisition of Wincanton, we do not believe [this] retirement announcement is related.”

In a May 2021 interview with LM, when Wilson was in his role as CEO of XPO Logistics, Europe, and incoming CEO of GXO Logistics, prior to GXO becoming a standalone logistics company, Wilson described GXO as a pure play logistics company. He noted that GXO was in a very unique environment of being of such a significant scale with a global reach, with a major advantage in terms of developed automation and enablement of it into warehouses.

“I think we are in really good shape. We have a long runway ahead of us, in the context of looking at our business pipeline and that looks very positive,” he said. “We can see well into the future for all of the different projects we are starting with customers. Overall, we have a very promising outlook for GXO.”