DHL (Dalsey, Hillblom and Lynn) International GmbH is an American-founded German company which is now the international courier, parcel, and express mail division of the German logistics company Deutsche Post DHL. Deutsche Post DHL is the world's largest logistics company,[3] now in over 220 countries and territories worldwide, particularly in sea and air mail. The company delivers over 1.3 billion parcels per year. The company was founded in the United States in 1969 and expanded its service throughout the world by the late 1970s. The company was primarily interested in offshore and intercontinental deliveries, but the success of FedEx prompted their own intra-US expansion starting in 1983. In 1998, Deutsche Post began to acquire shares in DHL. It reached controlling interest in 2001, and acquired all outstanding shares by December 2002