Two Jacksonville-based companies made Forbes magazine’s list of the largest privately owned U.S. companies, but one of those could be gone next year.
Southeastern Grocers Inc., parent of Winn-Dixie and two other supermarket chains, is ranked 67th with estimated annual sales of $8.5 billion.
However, Southeastern Grocers agreed in August to a buyout offer from Aldi, another privately owned grocery operator. That deal is expected to be completed in 2024.
Shipping company Crowley Maritime is also on the list with $3.4 billion in sales, ranking the company 181st.
Forbes listed 258 private companies with $2 billion or more in revenue. In some cases, the companies do disclose their revenue, including Crowley. The company has said in news releases it has annual revenue of $3.4 billion.
Southeastern Grocers last publicly reported revenue of about $8 billion for 2020 in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing for an initial public offering that was pulled off the market in January 2021.
The $8.5 billion is an estimate by the magazine.
Forbes also listed Fanatics Inc. as a Jacksonville-based company with $6 billion in estimated revenue, ranking it 95th, but it’s not based in Jacksonville.
Fanatics was founded in Northeast Florida and still maintains its commerce headquarters in Jacksonville.
The company does not list a headquarters but opened a parent company headquarters office in New York City in February 2023, according to a March story by American Builders Quarterly.
One other company on the list with close ties to Jacksonville is Urbana, Illinois-based Flex-N-Gate, ranked 69th with $8.3 billion in revenue.
The auto parts company is owned by Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan.
GEE Group Inc. reported lower revenue for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended Sept. 30.
However, the Jacksonville-based staffing company increased earnings.
GEE Group said Dec. 18 that fourth-quarter revenue fell 18% to $34.3 million and revenue fell 8% to $152.4 million for the entire fiscal year.
But the company’s adjusted earnings for the fiscal year rose 45% to $11.1 million, or 10 cents a share.
GEE Group had fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.1 million, reversing a loss the previous year.
“We are pleased with our ability to generate good cash flow for fiscal 2023, especially considering the volatility and uncertainties that persist in the economy and labor markets,” CEO Derek Dewan said in a news release.
“Despite current and potential headwinds, we continue to express the same cautious optimism regarding growth in earnings and free cash flow for fiscal 2024 based on what we are seeing so far,” he said.
DirecTV and Tegna Inc. have been locked in a dispute for three weeks that has kept Tegna’s 64 U.S. television stations, including Jacksonville NBC affiliate WTLV TV-12 and ABC affiliate WJXX TV-25, off of the satellite service.
The dispute involves the fees DirecTV pays to Tegna to be able to broadcast the stations on its service, and DirecTV offered a new approach to the contract renewal: Allow Tegna to set a market price for its stations and let DirecTV viewers decide if they want to subscribe to the stations individually.
“This first-of-its-kind a la carte model would allow broadcasters to fully control the pricing for their stations based on quality and demand, facilitate a direct relationship between the stations and viewers, and most importantly return greater choice, control and value to consumers by allowing them to customize their packages and pricing,” DirecTV said in a Nov. 30 news release when the existing contract with Tegna ran out.
“We’re committed to reaching an agreement that continues to ensure all of DIRECTV’s subscribers in our communities have access to the local and national news, sports and entertainment our stations offer, while providing our stations with the fair compensation they need to continue their significant investments in the content viewers value,” Tegna said in an emailed statement in response.
“In contrast, DIRECTV’s proposal to instead require its customers to pay yet another standalone fee for our local stations – unlike all other broadcast stations – disserves subscribers and is not productive.”
The dispute was unresolved as of Dec. 20 with no word on further negotiations between the parties.
Tyson Foods Inc., which notified state officials in November it would close its Jacksonville plant Jan. 8, said in an updated notification that it is extending employment for a handful of workers past that date.
However, the last of its Jacksonville employees will be laid off by March 17.
The company’s Nov. 8 filing under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act said 219 workers will lose their jobs when it closes the meat processing plant at 5441 W. Fifth St., in the Paxon area of West Jacksonville.
The updated WARN notice Dec. 13 said 11 employees will stay past Jan. 8 but they will be laid off between Jan. 12 and March 17.
The Jacksonville facility is one of eight plant closures announced this year by Springdale, Arkansas-based Tyson as it reorganizes its production footprint.
As Worldpay separates from Fidelity National Information Services Inc. and reestablishes a headquarters in Cincinnati, the payments technology company is adding 500 jobs at its main office.
Jacksonville-based FIS acquired Worldpay in 2019 but in July 2023, it agreed to sell a 55% controlling interest to private equity firm GTCR for $11.7 billion.
After the 2019 acquisition, FIS announced a commitment to maintaining a strategic technology and innovation campus at Worldpay’s former headquarters in Cincinnati.
A Dec. 11 news release from the office of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Worldpay still has 900 jobs in Cincinnati and it committed to returning the corporate headquarters to the city with 500 additional jobs.
Charles Drucker, CEO of Worldpay before the FIS acquisition, was named to again become chief executive of the stand-alone company after the GTCR deal is completed next year. That indicated Cincinnati would likely be the headquarters but in the news release, JobsOhio CEO J.P. Nauseef said there was “aggressive competition from other U.S. regions” for the headquarters office.
Financial technology company FIS will retain a minority stake in Worldpay after the buyout.
Conditioned Air Co. announced Dec. 18 it acquired A/C Designs of St. Augustine.
Houston-based investment firm Genesis Park said it invested in Conditioned Air to support the deal, but it did not announce the size of the investment.
Genesis Park took Jacksonville-based space technology firm Redwire Corp. public in 2021 by merging a special purpose acquisition company formed by Genesis with Redwire.
Ed Tennant, founder of A/C Designs in 2002, said in a news release the merger with Conditioned Air was an opportunity to secure his company’s future.
“I want the company to continue to prosper and grow, and I want to give A/C Designs the best opportunity to sustain that growth,” he said.
Naples-based Conditioned Air said the addition of A/C Designs makes it one of the largest residential HVAC companies in Florida.
Terms of the deal were not announced.