QXO Doesn’t Have Enough Stock

Brad Jacobs is a successful businessman “who built multibillion-dollar companies in logistics and other sectors through acquisitions.” Last year, he decided that he will next get into the business of rolling up companies that distribute building products. To do this, he started a company called QXO Inc., made himself the chairman and chief executive officer, picked a team, and funded the company with $900 million of his own money and $100 million from outside investors.

Jacobs has done well in the past, and people want to back him, so QXO was a hot enough ticket that last week — just a week after Jacobs put in his own money, and before he acquired any businesses — QXO was able to raise an additional $3.5 billion by selling stock and warrants privately to “certain institutional and accredited investors.” (Bloomberg News reported that the investors include affiliates of the 3G Capital founders and the Walton family, as well as T. Rowe Price.) That deal hasn’t closed yet — QXO expects to get the money “early in the third quarter,” so next month or so — but it’s a nice start. QXO has raised a roughly $4.5 billion fund to go out and buy buildings products distributors, and it “is targeting tens of billions of dollars of annual revenue in the next decade through accretive acquisitions and organic growth.”