Bill Zollars, currently chairman, president & CEO of Yellow, will assume those roles with the combined company, Yellow-Roadway Corp. James D. Staley, currently president & CEO of Roadway, will continue to lead Roadway, which will be an operating entity under the Yellow-Roadway holding company.

Yellow-Roadway will be the largest U.S.-based transportation service provider with a focus on big shipments for business-to-business customers, the company said in a statement.

"This strategic combination brings the strengths of Yellow and Roadway together to capture significant synergies and growth opportunities," Zollars said in a press release. "It accelerates our ongoing strategy, implemented over the past six years, to transform Yellow into a global transportation services and solutions leader."

Zollars added that there will not be a change in the companies' customer interface.

The combined revenue of both companies for the twelve months ending the first quarter of 2003 was nearly $6 billion.