Yellow Corp. Officially Declares Bankruptcy

Posted August 7, 2023

The trucking company Yellow Corp. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with layoffs’ totaling around 30,000 employees, according to a release.

The Nashville, Tenn.-based less-than-truckload company (formerly Overland Park-based) filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware on Sunday. 

“It is with profound disappointment that Yellow announces that it is closing after nearly 100 years in business,” Yellow’s CEO, Darren Hawkins said. “Today, it is not common for someone to work at one company for 20, 30, or even 40 years, yet many at Yellow did. For generations, Yellow provided hundreds of thousands of Americans with solid, good-paying jobs and fulfilling careers.”

In the release, Hawkins attributed the International Brotherhood of Teamsters as a major contributor to the downfall of the company. Hawkins claimed Teamsters put Yellow through an intense nine-month process of “union intransigence, bullying and deliberately destructive tactics,” which resulted in a blockade of Yellow’s “One Yellow” business plan.

In March, Yellow accumulated a debt of about $1.5 billion. In 2020, the Trump administration granted the trucking company a $700 million loan which is currently still being paid off to the federal government.

It seems Hawkins and Yellow are still committed to seeing this loan paid, “we intend to wind down our business, maximize recoveries for creditors and pay back the CARES Act loan in full,” Hawkins said.

Furthermore, Yellow has partnered with the American Trucking Associations, launching its first searchable job database for its former employees.

View the full news release, here.