Forward Air wrote down $1B of its $2.1B Omni acquisition a year after closing it

Forward Air, a US trucking and freight-forwarding company, agreed to acquire Omni Logistics in a deal valued at roughly $2.1 billion. The merger closed in January 2024, and Omni was delisted from the stock market. The deal was completed while Omni was still defending itself against a related lawsuit, which Forward Air had to assume as part of the transaction.

Within months the acquisition turned into a drag on the balance sheet. Weakening freight demand and integration problems cut into the combined company's earnings, and the debt taken on to fund the deal squeezed cash flow.

For its fiscal 2025, Forward Air recorded a goodwill impairment of $1.028 billion tied to the Omni acquisition, contributing to a net loss of roughly $1.1 billion for the year. The impairment was an admission that the purchase price no longer reflected the value of the acquired business.

The pain continued into the next year. In the second quarter of 2026 Forward Air took another $244 million in goodwill impairment on the same acquisition and reported a $207 million net loss, leaving the company with an equity deficit of about $123 million as it worked through a review of its future direction.