Fact check: False claim of acquisition involving trucking giants Prime Inc., Knight-Swift Transportation

BrieAnna J. Frank, USA TODAY
·2 min read

The claim: Prime Inc. is buying Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc.

An image being shared on Facebook claims Prime Inc., one of the largest trucking companies in the U.S., is set to buy Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc., another massive U.S.-based trucking company.

The image, which was posted to Facebook on Sept. 18, shows what appears to be a screenshot of a breaking news chyron that reads, “PRIME INC TO BUY KNIGHT/SWIFT." Text beneath the chyron claims the purchase already occurred: "MISSOURI MEGA CARRIER BUYS ARIZONA TRANSPORTATION GIANT."

Another version of the claim was shared almost 200 times in less than a day before it was deleted.

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But neither company has made any announcement about such an acquisition, and a representative for Prime Inc. said the claim is false.

The Facebook user said the information in the post was “fake news” when reached by USA TODAY for comment.

Company says no truth to claim

Neither company has issued any statement about the supposed purchase on their respective websites.

“No truth to this whatsoever,” Steve Crawford, general counsel for Prime, Inc. said in an email to USA TODAY.

Knight-Swift did not return USA TODAY’s request for comment. The company did acquire two other companies for a total of $1.5 billion in 2021, according to the Phoenix Business Journal, but neither purchase involved Prime Inc.

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The largest institutional stockholder of Knight-Swift is The Vanguard Group Inc., according to CNN Business stock market data on Sept. 27. The Vanguard Group is one of the largest investment firms in the world and owns more than 14 million shares, or an 8.9% stake, of Knight-Swift.

The image shared on Facebook appears to have been created through the use of a website that generates breaking news memes. A watermark visible in the top right-hand corner of the image shows the website's URL. USA TODAY found no such reports from any legitimate news outlets about Prime Inc. acquiring Knight-Swift.

Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that Prime Inc. is buying Knight-Swift. Neither company has announced such a purchase, and a representative for Prime Inc. said the claim was false.

Our fact-check sources:

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: False claim trucking company is buying Knight-Swift

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