It has been about a year since the high-profile acquisition of Kinko’s by FedEx Corp. The acquisition, which was completed in February of 2004, was greeted with mixed reviews. At the time of the announcement, Standard & Poor’s said “buy FedEx,” believing that FedEx could capture a significant portion of the shipping business from customers already using Kinko's for their copying needs. Moody's Investor Service placed FedEx's ratings on review for possible downgrade, reflecting Moody's concerns regarding increased risk to holders of rated debt as a result of the large additional debt burden created by the all cash purchase and the challenges of integrating Kinko’s business model into FedEx's core business and business strategies.

The market saw a drop in FedEx stock price, from a closing price of $69.94 on 12/29/03 to $67.50 on 12/31/03. By January 2, 2004, the share price had begun to move up slowly, reaching $67.89. A year and change later, FedEx was trading at nearly $95 per share. In hindsight, that S&P recommendation looks pretty good!

So what’s going on behind the scenes at the recently renamed FedEx Kinko’s Office and Print Services a year later? WhatTheyThink spoke with FedEx Kinko’s Chris Ahearn, Vice President of Marketing and Strategy, Commercial Document Solutions, to get an update.