DHL

For other uses, see DHL (disambiguation).

DHL
Company typeSubsidiary[1]
IndustryCourier
FoundedSeptember 25, 1969; 55 years ago (1969-09-25), in San Francisco, U.S.
FoundersAdrian Dalsey
Larry Hillblom
Robert Lynn
HeadquartersBonn, Germany
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Tobias Meyer (CEO)[2]
ProductsDHL Express Worldwide
DHL Express 9:00
DHL Express 10:30
DHL Express 12:00
ServicesPackage delivery
Express mail
freight forwarding
third-party logistics
RevenueIncrease €81.7 billion (2021)[3]
Number of employees
Increase 586,404 (Q1 2023)[4]
ParentDHL Group
Websitewww.dhl.com

DHL is a German logistics company headquartered in Bonn, Germany.[5] It provides courier, package delivery and express mail service, delivering over 1.7 billion parcels per year.[6] A subsidiary of the German logistics firm DHL Group, its express mail service DHL Express is one of the market leaders for parcel services in Europe. DHL Express is Germany's main international courier and parcel service.[7] DHL also operates a separate parcel service targeting the German consumer market in conjunction with Deutsche Post.

The company DHL itself was founded in San Francisco, United States in 1969 and expanded its service throughout the world by the late 1970s. DHL is an initialism of Dalsey, Hillblom and Lynn, the surnames of the original company's founders.[8]

The company was primarily interested in offshore and intercontinental deliveries, but the success of FedEx prompted DHL's own domestic (intra-US) expansion starting in 1983. In 1998, Deutsche Post began to acquire shares in DHL. It reached controlling interest in 2001, and acquired all outstanding shares by December 2002.[9] The company then absorbed DHL into its Express division, while expanding the use of the DHL brand to other Deutsche Post divisions, business units, and subsidiaries. Today, DHL Express shares its DHL brand with business units such as DHL Global Forwarding and DHL Supply Chain.[10] It gained a foothold in the United States when it acquired Airborne Express in 2003.

  1. ^ "facts & figures" (PDF). Deutsche Post DHL Group. April 2020.
  2. ^ "Deutsche Post DHL – Board of Management".
  3. ^ "Deutsche Post DHL Group closes 2021 with record earnings". Deutsche Post DHL Group. March 2021. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  4. ^ "DHL Group – Key figures". Deutsche Post DHL Group. October 2023.
  5. ^ Fakler, John T. (15 July 2002). "DHL relocating sales, marketing to Plantation". bizjournals.com.
  6. ^ "Company Portrait". DHL Company Portrait. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
  7. ^ "Express-Logistik: DHL kämpft im Osten um Kunden". www.handelsblatt.com (in German). Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "Deutsche Post DHL Group - History". www.dpdhl.com.
  10. ^ "2016 Report" (PDF). DPHL. Deutsche Post AG. 8 March 2017. Retrieved 27 March 2017.