QXO, a leading distributor of roofing products and building materials, is nearing another acquisition as part of a game plan to disrupt and consolidate the fragmented $800 billion building products industry and reach $50 billion in annual revenue in five or so years.
By reshaping an unconsolidated marketplace and capturing a much larger share of distribution, QXO could gain market share from competitors, creating strategic leverage in negotiations with homebuilders. Becoming a more dominant player in the distribution of building materials to job sites would reduce competition, strengthening QXO’s negotiating power, margins, information and data access, and profitability.
This potential consolidation of power in the building materials distribution space would mirror a similar trend happening in homebuilding. The big homebuilders are progressively capturing greater market share in the most active housing markets, leading to more concentration at the top of the food chain.
It’s not yet clear whether QXO can execute this consolidation play in the building materials industry. Still, founder, Chairman, and CEO Brad Jacobs has a proven blueprint, developed in the logistics and equipment rental sectors among others, that he believes will serve as a template to achieve this goal. QXO, founded by Jacobs in 2023, currently has an annual revenue of over $10 billion and aims to reach $50 billion by 2030 to 2035.
The Home Depot and Lowe’s, with total sales of roughly $159.5 billion and $83.6 billion, respectively, as of 2024, are the only giants in the building materials industry. Webb Analytics’ 2025 Construction Supply 150 reports that five other companies in the industry had more sales than QXO in 2024:
- ABC Supply ($20.7 billion)
- Builders FirstSource ($16.4 billion)
- Ferguson ($15.25 billion)
- Sherwin-Williams ($13.18 billion)
- Menards ($12.87 billion)
QXO’s vision is to surpass those competitors and become the third-largest player in the industry behind The Home Depot and Lowe’s. To achieve that goal, Jacobs plans to execute a series of acquisitions and double the revenue of those acquired companies within five years of each deal’s closing.
Apollo’s Investment in QXO
As an adrenaline boost toward that objective, yesterday, QXO announced a $1.2 billion investment from an investor group led by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, Inc.
The financing will come in the form of a series of convertible perpetual preferred stock. This preferred stock can be converted into shares of QXO’s common stock at an initial conversion price of $23.25 per share, according to a press release. As of the writing of this story, QXO’s stock soared roughly 18% to over $23 per share.
A person familiar with the deal, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, confirmed to The Builder’s Daily that QXO is nearing another acquisition and is seriously considering at least one of seven potential targets. The potential acquisitions are a mix of companies with revenue between $1 billion and $5 billion and more transformative deals with companies with revenue between $5 billion and $20 billion.
The investment agreement with Apollo states that QXO must fund at least one acquisition by July 15. However, the investment commitment would be extended by up to 12 additional months if an acquisition is announced but not finalized by the deadline.
QXO’s tech-savvy acquisition strategy
QXO’s tech-focused strategy, led by a chief artificial intelligence officer, centers on acquiring traditional distributors and consolidating them into a single AI-driven digital platform to enhance efficiency and healthier margins.
Jacobs, with a net worth of more than $16 billion, successfully and lucratively followed this tech-savvy consolidation strategy in other industries like oil, waste management, and equipment rentals.
However, Ken Pinto, founder of Kenzai USA, tells The Builder’s Daily that there is an inherent obstacle in applying this strategy to the construction industry, where demand data is fragmented and often nonexistent. Subcontractors often place orders only days before they need materials; many still rely on manual processes like fax, and there is limited predictive visibility into future demand.
“I think [Jacobs] is going to do a great job of aggregating, consolidating, and applying technology to improve internal operations,” says Pinto. “I’m sure that’s going to go great. He already knows how to do that. He’s going to plug and play. That’s going to be easy.”
However, Pinto says, “Then he’s going to hit the obstacle of needing demand signals to know how much inventory is the right inventory to have, and then he’s going to discover, ‘oh, that data doesn’t exist in our industry.’”
Still, Jacobs is confident in his ability to optimize QXO’s acquisition targets. QXO, a distributor of roofing, siding, waterproofing, and other building products, acquired Beacon Roofing Supply in April 2025 for $11 billion in an all-cash deal.
In a presentation to investors last year, Jacobs noted 15 ways that QXO has made Beacon Roofing Supply more efficient, including creating a national call center dedicated to dormant accounts, increasing the number of cross-selling opportunities, picking a single ERP for the entire company, and using digital tools to reduce the number of price overrides.
The Beacon deal was QXO’s first and only acquisition, and was a major milestone in Jacobs’ goal of consolidating the fragmented building products industry. Shortly after acquiring Beacon, Jacobs attempted to buy GMS for roughly $5 billion, but Home Depot ended up purchasing the company last September for $5.5 billion.
Some industry stakeholders worry that Home Depot and Lowe’s could undercut QXO’s future acquisition opportunities. However, an analysis by Reuben Garner and John McGlade at The Benchmark Company argues that QXO is well positioned to make its next acquisition.
“With Home Depot and Lowe’s each integrating acquisitions made in the last 12 months, we believe there’s a window for QXO to find its next asset with less competition than some investors fear,” the analysts write.
Craig Webb, President of Webb Analytics, notes that there are acquisition opportunities in the building products space at favorable prices. This is partly due to weak lumber prices, an abundance of baby boomer owners looking to sell their companies, and broader macroeconomic headwinds that are causing turbulence in the construction and remodeling industries.
“Ultimately, construction supply companies are dependent on how many homes get built and how many people do repairs and remodels,” Webb says.
While it’s not yet known what QXO’s next acquisition will be, it’s clear that Jacobs plans for it to play a major role in the company’s growth strategy as it aims to exceed the $50 billion annual revenue threshold. If Jacobs succeeds in his consolidation play, he could reshape the fragmented building materials industry and gain negotiating leverage.
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