In 1973, FedEx founder Fred Smith flew to Las Vegas with the company's last $5,000 and turned it into $27,000 at a blackjack table by counting cards. The bet bought him a week to save the company from bankruptcy, and FedEx eventually became a global logistics giant.
It's 1973 and FedEx is on the brink of bankruptcy. Everything comes down to a single card in a game of blackjack. Here's what happened. You see, Fred Smith, the founder of FedEx, is facing disaster. FedEx's whole business runs on gasoline and fuel costs are soaring. There's just $5,000 left in the company's bank account. Then he gets a bill for $24,000. Smith's back is against the wall and he gets a crazy idea because Fred served his country in Vietnam and to pass the time he learned how to count cards. So he flies to Las Vegas and goes to a casino. He heads straight for the blackjack table and bets every dollar the company has. It's the ultimate gamble. If he wins, he saves FedEx. If he loses, everything is gone. And he wins! Fred walks away with $27,000 from the casino. While it's only enough for one more week, it's all the time he needs to get back on his feet. So you can thank blackjack for half a million jobs and a billion dollars in revenue today.
