Swift Transportation Co

A founder of Swift Transportation Co. plans to buy the company for $2.74 billion, regaining control of the third-largest trucking company in the nation. Jerry Moyes, who founded Phoenix-based Swift more than 40 years ago with his father and brother, said he reached a deal Friday to pay $31.55 a share in cash to take the company private. His group, which includes family members, also would assume $332 million in debt.

A founder of Swift Transportation Co. plans to buy the company for $2.74 billion, regaining control of the third-largest trucking company in the nation. Jerry Moyes, who founded Phoenix-based Swift more than 40 years ago with his father and brother, said he reached a deal Friday to pay $31.55 a share in cash to take the company private. His group, which includes family members, also would assume $332 million in debt.

Swift Transportation Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Jerry Moyes on Wednesday agreed to pay $1.3 million to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission suit accusing him of insider trading. Phoenix-based Swift is the nation's third-largest trucking company. Moyes bought 187,000 shares in the two days before the company announced better-than-expected earnings and a share buyback, making an unrealized profit of $622,130, the SEC said. The SEC launched the investigation of trades made in May 2004.

Swift Transportation Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Jerry Moyes on Wednesday agreed to pay $1.3 million to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission suit accusing him of insider trading. Phoenix-based Swift is the nation's third-largest trucking company. Moyes bought 187,000 shares in the two days before the company announced better-than-expected earnings and a share buyback, making an unrealized profit of $622,130, the SEC said. The SEC launched the investigation of trades made in May 2004.

Swift Transportation Co., the third-largest U.S. trucker, said Thursday that the Securities and Exchange Commission was reviewing stock trades made by Chairman and Chief Executive Jerry Moyes. Moyes, who according to Swift made $622,000 trading 187,000 shares last month, is cooperating with the informal inquiry, Phoenix-based Swift said. The inquiry must be elevated to a formal one for the SEC to have subpoena power.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores, who represents Wilmington, asked the city's Building and Safety Department this week to investigate complaints that Swift Transportation Co. is violating city laws by operating its yard on McFarland Street before 7 a.m. and after 7 p.m.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. and five other large U.S. trucking companies plan to combine freight management units into a jointly owned Internet business to help lure shipments from rivals and cut costs. J.B. Hunt will join Swift Transportation Co., Covenant Transport Inc., M.S. Carriers Inc., U.S. Xpress Enterprises Inc. and Werner Enterprises Inc., with each investing $5 million in the venture, called Transplace.com. Their combined 1999 freight management revenue was $650 million.

The trucks will keep rolling down Sanford Avenue in east Wilmington, despite efforts by area residents and Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores of the harbor area to keep them off the predominantly residential street. The Los Angeles Planning Commission voted 3 to 2 last week to permit Swift Transportation Co. to build a loading dock at its warehouse on Pacific Coast Highway at Sanford.

The Port of Los Angeles' clean-truck replacement effort received a significant boost Thursday when two Arizona-based freight haulers signed letters of intent to participate in the program. Both the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach have provoked opposition from the American Trucking Assn. over their plans to replace the aging fleet of about 16,800 mostly dilapidated rigs that produce a large portion of the diesel pollution at the nation's busiest cargo container complex.

Wilmington residents won at least a partial victory Tuesday in their battle to reduce truck noise at the Swift Transportation Co. loading center near Sanford Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway. The Los Angeles City Council's Planning and Environment Committee, reviewing plans for a new 200-foot loading dock at the facility in east Wilmington, recommended disapproval of the project unless the company closes off an existing loading dock next to homes on Sanford Avenue.

Swift Transportation Co., the third-largest U.S. trucker, said Thursday that the Securities and Exchange Commission was reviewing stock trades made by Chairman and Chief Executive Jerry Moyes. Moyes, who according to Swift made $622,000 trading 187,000 shares last month, is cooperating with the informal inquiry, Phoenix-based Swift said. The inquiry must be elevated to a formal one for the SEC to have subpoena power.

The Los Angeles Planning Commission on Thursday took its last look at the revised Wilmington-Harbor City Community Plan, tied up several loose ends and--after more than six months of review--sent the complex document along to the City Council for final approval. In their latest round of fine-tuning, the planning commissioners, who approved most of the plan in August, again confronted the harbor area's patchwork mix of industrial and residential uses, particularly in Wilmington.

The trucking industry, with few exceptions, took investors on a hair-raising journey during the last year, and analysts see a bumpy ride for the stocks again in 1997. As the overall stock market climbed to new highs in 1996, shares of several major truckers went in the opposite direction as the companies' already weak earnings came under added pressure from rising diesel-fuel prices. As a result, truckers had one of the worst showings of the nearly 100 industry groups tracked by Dow Jones & Co.