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Business Segment Information
9 Months Ended
Feb. 28, 2015
Business Segment Information [Abstract]  
Business Segment Information

(6) Business Segment Information

 

We provide a broad portfolio of transportation, e-commerce and business services through companies competing collectively, operating independently and managed collaboratively under the respected FedEx brand. Our primary operating companies include FedEx Express, the world's largest express transportation company; FedEx Ground Package System, Inc. (“FedEx Ground”), a leading North American provider of small-package ground delivery services; and FedEx Freight, Inc. (“FedEx Freight”), a leading U.S. provider of less-than-truckload (“LTL”) freight services.

 

Our reportable segments include the following businesses:

FedEx Express SegmentFedEx Express (express transportation)
 FedEx Trade Networks (air and ocean freight forwarding and customs brokerage)
 FedEx SupplyChain Systems (logistics services)
 Bongo (cross-border enablement technology and solutions)
  
FedEx Ground Segment FedEx Ground (small-package ground delivery)
 FedEx SmartPost (small-parcel consolidator)
 GENCO (third-party logistics)
  
FedEx Freight SegmentFedEx Freight (LTL freight transportation)
 FedEx Custom Critical (time-critical transportation)
  
FedEx Services SegmentFedEx Services (sales, marketing, information technology, communications and
  back-office functions)
 FedEx TechConnect (customer service, technical support, billings and collections)
 FedEx Office (document and business services and package acceptance)

FedEx Services Segment

 

The FedEx Services segment operates combined sales, marketing, administrative and information technology functions in shared services operations that support our transportation businesses and allow us to obtain synergies from the combination of these functions. For the international regions of FedEx Express, some of these functions are performed on a regional basis by FedEx Express and reported in the FedEx Express segment in their natural expense line items.

 

The FedEx Services segment provides direct and indirect support to our transportation businesses, and we allocate all of the net operating costs of the FedEx Services segment (including the net operating results of FedEx Office) to reflect the full cost of operating our transportation businesses in the results of those segments. Within the FedEx Services segment allocation, the net operating results of FedEx Office, which are an immaterial component of our allocations, are allocated to FedEx Express and FedEx Ground. We review and evaluate the performance of our transportation segments based on operating income (inclusive of FedEx Services segment allocations). For the FedEx Services segment, performance is evaluated based on the impact of its total allocated net operating costs on our transportation segments.

 

Operating expenses for each of our transportation segments include the allocations from the FedEx Services segment to the respective transportation segments. These allocations also include charges and credits for administrative services provided between operating companies. The allocations of net operating costs are based on metrics such as relative revenues or estimated services provided. We believe these allocations approximate the net cost of providing these functions and our allocation methodologies are refined as necessary to reflect changes in our businesses.

 

During the first quarter of 2015, we ceased allocating to our transportation segments the costs associated with our corporate headquarters division. These costs included services related to general oversight functions, including executive officers and certain legal and finance functions. This change allows for additional transparency and improved management of our corporate oversight costs. These costs are included in “Corporate, eliminations and other” in our segment reporting and reconciliations. Prior year amounts have been revised to conform to the current year segment presentation. This change did not impact our condensed consolidated financial statements included in Note 10.

 

Other Intersegment Transactions

 

Certain FedEx operating companies provide transportation and related services for other FedEx companies outside their reportable segment. Billings for such services are based on negotiated rates, which we believe approximate fair value, and are reflected as revenues of the billing segment. These rates are adjusted from time to time based on market conditions. Such intersegment revenues and expenses are eliminated in our consolidated results and are not separately identified in the following segment information, because the amounts are not material.

 

The following table provides a reconciliation of reportable segment revenues and operating income to our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statement totals for the periods ended February 28 (in millions):

 

   Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended 
   2015 2014 2015 2014 
Revenues            
 FedEx Express segment$ 6,656 $ 6,674 $ 20,542 $ 20,123 
 FedEx Ground segment  3,393   3,031   9,416   8,610 
 FedEx Freight segment   1,428   1,347   4,622   4,205 
 FedEx Services segment  370   368   1,138   1,134 
 Eliminations and other  (131)   (119)   (379)   (344) 
   $ 11,716 $ 11,301 $ 35,339 $ 33,728 
Operating Income(1)            
 FedEx Express segment $ 384 $ 168 $ 1,237 $ 798 
 FedEx Ground segment  558   490   1,568   1,412 
 FedEx Freight segment   68   35   348   217 
 Corporate, eliminations and other  (48)   (52)   (191)   (164) 
   $ 962 $ 641 $ 2,962 $ 2,263 
               
(1) Prior year amounts have been revised to conform to the current year segment presentation regarding the allocation of corporate headquarters costs.