That's somewhat the rumor going on around here. They're doing all they can to inflate the stock price because one or more are planing to step down and will be cashing out when it happens.
This could be part of it, but Fred S got in front of Wall Street a year or so ago, and made a bunch of promises as to the future profitability of Express, particularly "double-digit" profits. Since transportation companies with an airline component have naturally high operating ratios, the only way they are going to accomplish this is through raping us. Fred has bought a bunch of new aircraft and vehicles to increase efficiency, and he's going to pay for all of it out of our back pockets via reduced benefits, lower wages (replacing/eliminating senior employees), and more productivity.
Express is slightly more profitable, but I don't foresee 10% any time soon, if ever. Our stock is soaring because of the Ground scam, not Express. Nearly all of Fred's new lower-wage employees at Express are useless, and actually less productive than experienced employees...a false economy. Eventually, I see Express becoming a
money-loser, that will exist just so FedEx can provide overnight services under it's systems integrator umbrella of products. Ground will continue to prop-up profits, just as Express subsidized the development of Ground. All of those years where we got lousy raises and excuses, ending the Traditional Retirement Plan, and all of the rest of it allowed Smith to funnel millions into developing Ground infrastructure. Yep, you paid for it.