The world’s fastest-growing building material suppliers are eyeing “large, complex projects like data centres, where scale matters”. It comes as QXO agreed to buy insulation giant TopBuild for $17 billion, the latest in a $30 billion acquisition spree that makes the Greenwich, Connecticut distributor the second-largest publicly traded building products company in North America.
Speaking to the media yesterday, Brad Jacobs, QXO’s Chair and CEO, confirmed the deal, revealing that the combined business would generate more than $18 billion in annual revenue and $2 billion in adjusted EBITDA, with Daytona Beach-headquartered TopBuild’s shareholders to receive $505 per share (a 23.1 per cent premium at Friday’s close).
TopBuild is the largest distributor and installer of insulation and related building products in North America, running more than 450 locations across the United States and Canada. The acquisition adds insulation distribution to QXO’s existing positions in roofing, waterproofing and lumber-related building materials, with the data centre segment Jacobs named now driving record mass timber demand as Microsoft, Amazon and Meta roll out timber-framed hyperscale facilities across the US, as Wood Central reported from the Portland conference floor.
Jacobs, who has previously founded logistics, waste-management and equipment rental companies, including United Rentals, XPO Logistics and GXO Logistics, has run the QXO acquisition playbook since incorporating the business in 2023, with Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also sitting on the QXO board.
The TopBuild takeover is QXO’s third major acquisition in less than a year, following the $11 billion Beacon Roofing Supply deal in 2025 and the $2.25 billion Kodiak Building Partners acquisition that closed on 1 April, with Jacobs having also lost a hostile bid for wallboard giant GMS to Home Depot earlier in 2026.
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026 and sits within a broader wave of M&A across the US building products sector, with distributors consolidating to localise supply chains and insulate against tariff exposure.
Once complete, the TopBuild buy out will see QXO operate across 1,150 locations in all 50 US states and seven Canadian provinces, with approximately 28,000 employees and a fleet of more than 10,000 vehicles. Jacobs is now targeting $50 billion in annual revenue within the next decade, a trajectory that would make QXO one of the largest building products distributors globally.
TopBuild CEO Robert Buck said the merger would “combine our leadership in insulation installation and specialty distribution” with QXO’s scale, technology and procurement capabilities, citing 10-year annual sales growth of 13 per cent and adjusted earnings-per-share growth of 31 per cent over the same period.
Wood Central understands the new business will hold number-one positions in insulation and waterproofing across North America, number-two in roofing and top-two in lumber and building materials in key geographies served, addressing a market valued at more than $300 billion.
