Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Upcoming Event

Best Places to Work in Virginia

Hamburger Menu Hamburger Menu

byline: Richard Foster

These 39 Va. companies made the 2024 Fortune 1000

Thirty-nine companies headquartered in Virginia are on Fortune magazine’s 70th annual Fortune 1000 list, with 24 Virginia companies again making the elite Fortune 500.

Several of the Virginia companies saw their fortunes rise this year on the list, with top-ranked Virginia company Freddie Mac moving up nine spots to No. 36 on the overall Fortune 500, posting $108.05 billion in revenue for 2023. The federally sponsored mortgage enterprise’s former CEO, Michael J. DeVito, retired earlier this year, with company President Mike Hutchins appointed as interim CEO.

Meanwhile, Virginia’s second-ranked company, beleaguered aerospace and defense contractor Boeing, rose six spots to No. 52 on the Fortune 500, with $77.79 billion in revenue posted last year. Boeing President and CEO Dave Calhoun plans to step down by the end of the year, an announcement that came in March amid ongoing bad press over production problems and fallout from a high-profile January incident in which a 4-foot wall panel blew out of a Boeing 737 Max 9 jet cabin in mid-air. The Justice Department informed a federal judge on May 14 that Boeing violated terms of a settlement allowing the company to avoid prosecution in relation to two deadly 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019. Prosecutors have until July 7 to inform the court whether the federal government will take action against Boeing.

Fellow aerospace and defense company RTX, formerly known as Raytheon Technologies, is Virginia’s third-ranked company on the Fortune 500 this year, with $68.9 billion in 2023 revenue, rising two spots to No. 55. Raytheon rebranded as RTX in June 2023 as part of a business reorganization that saw RTX consolidate into three business units: aerospace and defense technology supplier Collins Aerospace, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina; aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, headquartered in East Hartford, Connecticut; and Arlington-based Raytheon, which includes the company’s former Raytheon Intelligence & Space and Raytheon Missiles & Defense segments.

Released Tuesday, the Fortune 1000 list ranks the 1,000 largest United States corporations by total revenue, including public companies and private companies for which revenue information is available.

The past year has been a good one for aerospace and defense in Virginia, evidently, with McLean-based V2X rocketing 155 slots on the Fortune 1000 this year, up to No. 752. V2X, which will see Peraton Chief Operating Officer Jeremy Wensinger taking over as V2X’s CEO from Chuck Prow this month, formed in 2022 from the $2.1 billion merger of Colorado-based government contractor Vectrus and Mississippi-based The Vertex Co. The company reported 2023 revenue of $3.96 billion, up 8% over 2022.

Also notable this year is McLean-based global hotelier Hilton, which jumped 42 spots to No. 389 on the Fortune 500, cementing its post-pandemic turnaround after dropping off the Fortune 500 in 2021 and 2022. Hilton posted $10.24 billion in 2023 revenue, up from $8.77 billion the previous year.

The company with the biggest slide on this year’s Fortune 1000 list was newspaper publisher Gannett, which sank 65 slots to No. 966. Previously based in McLean, Gannett moved its headquarters to New York in March. Tysons-based Tegna, the nation’s largest owner of NBC-affiliate TV stations, dropped 52 spots, to No. 908. Fortune 500 IT company DXC Technology in Ashburn slipped 39 places to No. 294.

Last year, 36 Virginia companies made the Fortune 1000 list, with 24 on the Fortune 500.

This year, 10 Virginia Fortune 500 companies are based in Fairfax County, retaining its status as the Virginia locality with the most Fortune 500 companies. The metro Richmond area, including Hanover, Henrico and Goochland counties, has the second most companies on the Fortune 500, with eight companies. Arlington County has three companies on the Fortune 500.

These are the Virginia-based companies that made the 2024 Fortune 1000 list, in order of ranking:

36) Federal Home Loan Mortgage (“Freddie Mac”), McLean

52) Boeing, Arlington County

55) RTX, Arlington County

84) Performance Food Group, Goochland County

91) Capital One Financial, McLean

104) General Dynamics, Reston

109) Northrop Grumman, Falls Church

141) CarMax, Goochland County

143) Dollar Tree, Chesapeake

196) Altria Group, Henrico County

230) Dominion Energy, Richmond

262) Markel Group, Glen Allen

266) Leidos, Reston

294) DXC Technology, Ashburn

319) AES, Arlington County

357) Huntington Ingalls Industries, Newport News

388) Owens & Minor, Mechanicsville

389) Hilton, McLean

406) NVR, Reston

422) Booz Allen Hamilton, McLean

429) Beacon Roofing Supply, Herndon

453) Arko, Henrico County

477) Genworth Financial, Henrico County

479) Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), Reston

525) CACI International, Reston

608) Parsons, Centreville

653) Maximus, Reston

655) Brink’s, Henrico County

657) Navient, Herndon

691) ASGN, Glen Allen

694) Graham Holdings, Arlington County

752) V2X, McLean

908) Tegna, Tysons

941) AvalonBay Communities, Arlington County

956) NewMarket, Richmond

957) Park Hotels & Resorts, Tysons

966) Gannett, McLean

979) Universal Corp., Richmond

999) BWX Technologies, Lynchburg

Pivot points

Earlier this year, when I was invited to speak to a Henrico County Rotary chapter, I was asked several questions commonly heard these days by journalists.

Do sources pay us to appear in our magazine stories? No. As an independent media outlet, we are not pay-to-play; we decide who and what we write about and who we interview. Advertising does not impact our editorial decisions, and ad sales are handled by a separate department.

What happens if we print something wrong in one of our stories? We will immediately correct the online version of the story, and we will run a correction in the next issue of the print magazine. If it’s a significant error, we will also add an editor’s note online.

How do you decide on the angle of a story? This question is a bit more complex to answer. In an age of biased 24-hour cable news channels and social media, it’s understandable that some people might think we plan every story with an ulterior, politicized point of view. However, though it might seem surprising or even quaint, that’s not how we — and most local and regional news outlets — go about our business.

Our story planning typically starts with a combination of staff research and talking with sources. We often start out wanting to write about a particular industry, such as health care or real estate, so we look for information about that industry’s latest trends, or recent related studies or news stories.

For instance, in this issue, we have a story about Charlottesville (The retail experience) that was based on a January city study showing declining retail storefront vacancies. We asked freelance writer Stephenie Overman to talk with local retailers and look into it. What she found generally confirmed what the city said — retailers there are mostly enjoying a post-pandemic bump.

But what happens when the reality is different from what we hypothesized? What about when we uncover new information that may change a story’s direction?

The answer is simple: We report what’s there and follow wherever the story may take us.

A case in point is this issue’s story about the University of Virginia (Grounds for dissent?) by Deputy Editor Kate Andrews. We started out seeing a potential story in a confluence of reports that pointed to a larger battle over the meaning of free speech as well as the political soul and direction of Mr. Jefferson’s university, particularly regarding U.Va.’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. This seemed particularly timely, given that Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s appointees are poised to make up a majority of U.Va.’s board of visitors as of July.

Youngkin and his board appointees have taken active stances at Virginia Commonwealth University and George Mason University, where Youngkin’s administration asked to review syllabuses for diversity courses at the universities, and board members voted down efforts to make the courses required. A Youngkin U.Va. board appointee, Bert Ellis, co-founded a conservative alumni organization that has been critical of university diversity policies.

As Andrews undertook the reporting for the story, however, it became clear that, while those elements were present and are mentioned in her final story, an even more timely and pressing story was to be found in how U.Va. is dealing with student protesters of the Israeli war on Hamas in Gaza and accusations of on-campus antisemitism, so she pivoted to report on that. A debate that’s taking over campuses around the nations, it has resulted in the resignations of the presidents of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania and is shaping up to be a critical factor in this year’s presidential race.

And speaking of pivoting, polybagged with this issue readers will find the second edition of StartVirginia, an annual publication devoted to the entrepreneurial ecosystem. This year’s issue, shepherded by Associate Editor Robyn Sidersky, is bigger and better than its predecessor, with new charts and lists and more stories than last year. If you’re an entrepreneur or thinking of starting a business, it’s a must-read. 

Virginia Business wins 16 Va. Press Association awards

Virginia Business won 16 awards in the Virginia Press Association’s 2023 News & Advertising Contest, the state organization announced Saturday.

The annual contest recognizes excellence in design, writing, photography, illustrations and advertising in participating publications across Virginia for the previous calendar year. This year’s contest was judged by members of the Missouri Press Association. A banquet honoring the winners was held May 4 at the Omni Charlottesville Hotel.

Virginia Business Art Director Joel Smith and former Associate Editor Courtney Mabeus-Brown took first-, second- and third-place prizes across multiple categories. Smith won five awards for advertising and was a co-winner of a design and presentation award recognizing the magazine’s cover art. Mabeus-Brown, now senior reporter for Arlington County-based Air Force Times, won three awards for news and feature writing.

Virginia Business won seven first-place awards in the following categories:

News Writing Portfolio — Courtney Mabeus-Brown won for a body of stories including “Federal shutdown could have deep impacts in Va.” “Va. could get $100M+ lithium-ion battery project,” and “Pittsylvania site is top contender for $100M battery project.” The latter two stories were consecutive daily scoops reporting that Tennessee-based Microporous was in discussions to located a major battery manufacturing plant at the Southern Virginia Megasite at Berry Hill, a joint industrial park owned by Pittsylvania County and Danville. The state government has codenamed the economic development effort “Project Stellar.”

Column or Commentary Writing — Virginia Business President and Publisher Bernie Niemeier took top honors in this opinion writing category for his “OurView” column. Niemeier’s winning columns included “Reimagining the corporation” — examining motivating factors for business beyond profit — and “Is ESG another CRT?,” which focused on conservative opposition to corporate environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) initiatives. “Such an easy read,” judges said of Niemeier’s columns. “It flowed like honey. Interesting and relates to everyone.”

Feature Photo — Freelance photographer James Lee won for his sophisticated photo spread accompanying Virginia Business’ 2023 Black Business Leaders Awards, the magazine’s February 2023 cover story, with judges calling his work “stately … yet light-hearted.”

Pictorial Photo — “Incredible shot of a loving dad and son. You feel this emotion in the action caught clearly, ” contest judges said in applauding freelance photographer Jeneene Chatowsky’s moving portrait of Luminoah founder and CEO Neal Piper and his young son Noah, whose battle with childhood cancer inspired Piper’s health care technology business.

Education, Churches and Organizations advertising — Art Director Joel Smith won for his design of a magazine ad for Hampton Roads Workforce Council. Judges singled out his “good use of white space and use of color palette.”

Professional Services advertising (excluding health care) — Smith won for a striking full-page magazine ad for Martinair.

Real Estate advertising — The judges praised Smith’s ad designed for The Franklin Johnston Group, saying, “Great layout, perfect subject photo, excellent color palette. This ad is balanced, informative, and elicits feelings of success.”

2023 Maritime Guide cover
2023 Maritime Guide cover

Virginia Business also took five second-place awards:

  • Feature Writing Portfolio — Mabeus-Brown won for a package of feature stories focusing on higher education and remote work, which judges lauded for “thorough reporting with great research, stats [and] well-used sources.” The portfolio of work included her August 2023 cover story, which scrutinized return on investment from college tuition at Virginia institutions of higher learning, and a September 2023 cover story reporting that remote and hybrid work would be permanent fixtures in the post-pandemic work world.
  • Business and Financial Writing — Freelance writer Katherine Hamilton won for her November 2023 story, “On the basis of race,” investigating how a 2023 Supreme Court ruling against race-based affirmative action policies at universities could result in an increase in reverse-discrimination lawsuits against businesses.
  • Special Sections or Special Editions — Virginia Business staff won for the magazine’s 2023 Maritime Guide special issue, which the judges called “a great piece, front to back.” A team effort, the guide was coordinated by Deputy Editor Kate Andrews, with presentation and design overseen by Art Director Joel Smith. Virginia Business Associate Editors Beth JoJack, Katherine Schulte and Robyn Sidersky also contributed to the issue.
  • Illustrations — Freelancer Tom Edwards contributed the winning illustration, depicting a businessman consulting a crystal ball, for the Hampton Roads Business guide story, “Gazing into the future.”
  • Education, Churches and Organizations advertising — Smith also took second place in this category for his design of a magazine ad for the Virginia Economic Developers Association (VEDA).

Finally, the magazine won four third-place awards in these categories:

  • Feature Writing Portfolio — Judges cited Associate Editor Katherine Schulte’s “great, thorough reporting with plenty of details, research and useful sources that bring the topics home for readers. All of the stories were great.” Her winning portfolio of stories included “A severe case,” about Virginia’s shortage of primary care practitioners; “Wizards of National Landing,” focusing on the opening of Amazon.com’s HQ2 East Coast headquarters; and “The next frontier,” a look at how Virginia companies are responding to the advent of generative artificial intelligence tools.
  • General News Writing — Mabeus-Brown rounded out her 2023 trio of awards, taking third place for her back-to-back daily scoops about a major lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant potentially coming to Pittsylvania County.
  • Headline Writing — Editor and Chief Content Officer Richard Foster placed for entries such as “On cloud nine,” for a feature story about Virginia data centers and cloud computing; “Love at first site,” for a story about corporate headquarters site selection; and “It’s alive — with possibilities,” accompanying a story about the “Frankenstein”-like ethical quandaries posed by generative AI.
  • Front Page/Front Cover — Smith led this team category, which also recognized Virginia Business editors Foster and Andrews and freelancer illustrator Mark Jeffries and photographer James Lee for their work on Virginia Business’ January, July and November 2023 covers.

Virginia Business competed in the specialty publications category, which also included Ashburn Magazine, Richmond magazine and the Washington Business Journal. Ashburn Magazine won the VPA’s grand sweepstakes award for the specialty publications category.

Boeing CEO to step down by end of year

In late March, Boeing President and CEO Dave Calhoun said he would step down by the end of the year. The announcement came amid ongoing bad press over production problems and fallout from a high-profile January incident in which a 4-foot wall panel blew out of a Boeing 737 Max 9 jet cabin in mid-air.

Calhoun joined Boeing as its CEO in 2020 and has led the embattled Arlington County-based Fortune 500 aerospace company and defense contractor through multiple challenges, including the aftermath of two deadly 737 Max crashes off the coast of Indonesia and in Ethiopia, which collectively claimed 346 lives.

In addition to Calhoun’s departure, Boeing Board Chair Larry Kellner did not stand for re-election during the company’s April 18 annual shareholders meeting. The board elected a new independent board chair, Steve Mollenkopf, to succeed Kellner. The former CEO of semiconductor manufacturer Qualcomm, Mollenkopf is leading the board in selecting Boeing’s next CEO.

As part of the management shakeup, Boeing Chief Operating Officer Stephanie Pope was appointed to lead the company’s Boeing Commercial Airplanes business unit, replacing BCA President and CEO Stan Deal, who retired from Boeing effective March 25.

“It has been the greatest privilege of my life to serve Boeing,” Calhoun wrote in a March 25 letter to employees. “The eyes of the world are on us, and I know that we will come through this moment a better company. We will remain squarely focused on completing the work we have done together to return our company to stability after the extraordinary challenges of the past five years, with safety and quality at the forefront of everything that we do.”

In January, terrified Alaska Airlines passengers were exposed to open air at 16,000 feet. Reports followed that the wall panel that blew out was missing bolts, and Alaska Airlines found loose bolts on other Boeing aircraft. The incident is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration.

The Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into the incident, and in mid-March, it was announced that the FBI notified passengers of that Alaska Airlines flight that they may be crime victims. Following the blowout, the FAA conducted a six-week examination of the company’s 737 Max jet production process, including 89 product audits. According to The New York Times, Boeing failed 33 of the audits. 

Which way the Venn blows

It feels like one of those logic puzzles high school students grapple with on the SAT: If Delegate Sally passes a law to require utilities in her state to generate all their electricity from renewable, carbon-free energy sources like wind and solar by 2045, what is the latest year CEO Tom’s power plant can stop running on natural gas?

Like many things in life, business and especially government, the answer to this question is hardly clear-cut. It lies somewhere within the intersection of the Venn diagram formed by the overlap of Virginia’s fast-growing energy and data centers industries — topics well covered by two of our feature stories in this month’s issue.

As reported by contributing writer Stephenie Overman in her April story, “Natural selection,” the state’s primary electric utility, Dominion Energy, is seeking to build a $600 million-plus, 1,000-megawatt natural gas power plant in Chesterfield County even though it’s under a state mandate from the Virginia Clean Economy Act to eliminate fossil fuels as an energy source by 2045.

This comes amid a tidal wave of data center development in the commonwealth that has sparked pushback from some local politicians, state legislators and citizens’ groups, reports contributor Elizabeth Cooper in her story, “Digital Divide.”

Between 2011 and 2020, Amazon Web Services alone spent $35 billion building data centers in Virginia, a figure the company plans to double by 2040. And recent rapid advancements in artificial intelligence are expected to grow demand for data centers even more. By some estimates, these electricity-chomping facilities, which support modern staples of life like streaming entertainment media, cloud computing and videoconferencing, could quadruple their power usage by 2038, accounting for about half the state’s electricity use.

Meanwhile, the automotive industry is also trying to boost adoption of electric vehicles instead of gas-burning cars, putting more strain on the grid. (A California government study estimated that by 2035 EVs could siphon 10% of that state’s electricity during peak periods.) And of course, people are cranking up their AC amid record hot summers caused by climate change.

A group of nine Democratic Central Virginia state legislators who put out a statement in March opposing the proposed Chesterfield natural gas power plant noted that Dominion notified the State Corporation Commission last year that the utility expects its carbon emissions will increase to as much as 43.8 million metric tons by 2048 — more than twice its emissions as of 2021. Needless to say, that’s not the trend the legislature had in mind when it passed its carbon-free power mandate.

For its part, though, Dominion has said that it’s trying to meet the 2045 deadline through massive investments in solar farms and the $9.8 billion offshore wind farm it’s developing off the Virginia Beach coast. But it also says that current technological limits on battery storage of renewable energy may mean that natural gas has to remain in the power generation mix past 2045 to ensure grid stability. Dominion is also considering other potential carbon-free solutions such as small modular nuclear reactors, but those are still very much experimental, with none yet operating outside of Russia and China.

Virginia is hardly alone in facing this power conundrum. Just in the Southeast U.S., utilities are proposing about 33,000 megawatts of new natural gas projects, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center. One of its senior attorneys noted to The New York Times in March that this is “completely at odds” with cutting carbon emissions to stem climate change.

It’s not clear what the solution is, but the answer will need to be found at the intersection of science, industry and government. And quickly.  

Boeing CEO Calhoun to step down by year-end

Amid ongoing bad press over production problems and fallout from a high-profile January incident in which a 4-foot wall panel blew out of a Boeing 737 Max 9 jet cabin in mid-air, Boeing announced Monday that its president and CEO, Dave Calhoun, would step down from his position leading the embattled Arlington County-based Fortune 500 aerospace company and defense contractor by the end of 2024. 

Additionally, Boeing Board Chair Larry Kellner will not stand for re-election during the company’s April 18 annual shareholders meeting. The board has elected a new independent board chair, Steve Mollenkopf, to succeed Kellner. The former CEO of semiconductor manufacturer Qualcomm, Mollenkopf will lead the board in selecting Boeing’s next CEO. Kellner, who has chaired Boeing since 2019, joined the board 13 years ago, and Mollenkopf has been on the board since 2020.

Steve Mollenkopf
Boeing’s board elected Steve Mollenkopf to serve as its next board chair on March 25, 2024. (Photo courtesy Boeing)

As part of the management shakeup, Boeing Chief Operating Officer Stephanie Pope has been appointed to lead the company’s Boeing Commercial Airplanes business unit, replacing BCA President and CEO Stan Deal, who retired from Boeing effective Monday.

“It has been the greatest privilege of my life to serve Boeing,” Calhoun wrote in a letter to employees. “The eyes of the world are on us, and I know that we will come through this moment a better company. We will remain squarely focused on completing the work we have done together to return our company to stability after the extraordinary challenges of the past five years, with safety and quality at the forefront of everything that we do.”

In a statement, Mollenkopf said, “I am honored and humbled to step into this new role. I am fully confident in this company and its leadership – and together we are committed to taking the right actions to strengthen safety and quality, and to meet the needs of our customers. I also want to thank both Larry and Dave for their exceptional stewardship of Boeing during a challenging and consequential time for Boeing and the aerospace industry.”

In January, terrified Alaska Airlines passengers were exposed to open air at 16,000 feet. Reports followed that the wall panel that blew out was missing bolts and Alaska Airlines found loose bolts on other Boeing aircraft. Amid questions about whether Boeing cut corners on quality control, the incident is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration. The Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into the incident, and on Friday, it was announced that the FBI notified passengers of that Alaska Airlines flight that they may be crime victims.

Following the blowout, the FAA conducted a six-week examination of the company’s 737 Max jet production process, including 89 product audits. According to The New York Times, Boeing failed 33 of the audits.

The FAA halted expanded production of the 737 Max, and customer United Airlines has approached competitor Airbus. Boeing reported that it had net-zero orders for new commercial aircraft during January.

The writing was on the wall for Calhoun, with one industry veteran telling Reuters in February, “I can’t see how the CEO can survive and how he should survive.” Last week, Boeing board directors, including Kellner, said they would conduct a “listening tour” with their largest airline customers — sans Calhoun — Bloomberg reported. 

Following the Alaska Airlines incident on Jan. 5, all Boeing 737 Max jets were grounded temporarily in the U.S., although flights were allowed to resume later in the month. In February, the company announced it would rework 50 undelivered 737 Max jets after finding mistakes in drilled holes in the fuselage of some of them, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, some Alaska Airlines passengers filed a $1 billion lawsuit against the airline and Boeing, and Boeing’s chief financial officer said in March at a Bank of America conference that the company would burn between $4 billion and $4.5 billion in the first quarter of the year because of lower delivery volume and pressure on working capital, according to Reuters.

There was more financial fallout over recent weeks, as some travelers changed plans to avoid flying on Boeing planes and air carriers said they would be cutting back flights this summer and seeking alternatives to 737 Max planes they had already ordered.

Also in March, a former Boeing quality manager-turned-whistleblower, John Barnett, was found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. Although he left the company years earlier, Barnett had called attention to safety concerns regarding Boeing 787 jets under construction in South Carolina, where he started working in 2010. Several former Boeing employees alerted authorities to a series of quality control problems at Boeing plants dating back several years, according to a Washington Post story. In December 2021, the Senate Commerce Committee produced a report following the two deadly 737 Max crashes in October 2018 and March 2019, documenting metal shavings and tools left on jets in production.

A Virginia Tech alumnus, Calhoun has steered Boeing through strong headwinds since becoming its CEO in 2020, including the aftermath of the deadly 737 Max crashes off the coast of Indonesia and in Ethiopia, which together claimed 346 lives. Following the January Alaska Airlines incident, Calhoun said Boeing will “cooperate fully and transparently” with federal investigators in the most recent probe.

Calhoun previously held C-suite positions at Blackstone, Nielsen Holdings and General Electric.

Boeing, which moved its headquarters to Arlington from Chicago in 2022, has about 170,000 employees worldwide, including 400 workers in Arlington.

 

Capital One to buy Discover in $35.3B deal

UPDATED 8:35 P.M. Feb. 19

McLean-based Capital One Financial is buying Discover Financial Services for $35.3 billion in an all-stock deal that marks Capital One’s largest ever acquisition, the two credit card giants announced Monday evening.

Under the terms of the acquisition agreement, Discover shareholders will receive 1.0192 Capital One shares for each share of Discover, representing a premium of 26.6% based on a Feb. 16 closing price of $110.49 for Discover shares.

The transaction is expected to close in late 2024 or early 2025, according to a news release. At close, Capital One shareholders will own about 60% of the combined company, and Discover shareholders will hold the remaining approximately 40%. Upon closing, three Discover board members will join Capital One’s board.

“From Capital One’s founding days, we set out to build a payments and banking company powered by modern technology. Our acquisition of Discover is a singular opportunity to bring together two very successful companies with complementary capabilities and franchises, and to build a payments network that can compete with the largest payments networks and payments companies,” said Capital One Chairman, CEO and founder Richard Fairbank in a statement. “Through this combination, we’re creating a company that is exceptionally well-positioned to create significant value for consumers, small businesses, merchants and shareholders as technology continues to transform the payments and banking marketplace.”

“The transaction with Capital One brings together two strong brands with enhanced ability to accelerate growth and maximizes value for our shareholders, enabling them to participate in the tremendous upside of the combined company,” said Discover President and CEO Michael Rhodes in a statement. “This agreement underscores the strength of our business and is a testament to the hard work of Discover employees. We look forward to a bright future as part of the Capital One family and to providing expanded opportunities for our loyal customers.”

Ahead of the official announcement, news of the deal had been reported earlier Monday by Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal. Illinois-based Discover has a market value of about $27.6 billion. Capital One has a market capitalization of about $52.2 billion. It reported $34.25 billion in 2022 revenue.

In August 2023, Roger Hochschild stepped down as Discover’s CEO and from its board, following the company’s July 2023 disclosure of a regulatory review of misclassified credit card accounts and pause of share buybacks. John Owen, a member of the board of directors, served as interim CEO until Discover appointed Rhodes as its CEO and a board member in December 2023.

In November 2023, Discover announced it was exploring the sale of its Discover Student Loans portfolio and would stop accepting new loan applications on Feb. 1, 2024.

The credit card network and issuer, which was No. 273 on the 2023 Fortune 500, had a revenue of $15.2 billion for fiscal 2022, according to Fortune, putting it below American Express — almost $55.63 billion, according to Fortune — as well as Visa ($29 billion) and Mastercard ($22 billion).

Discover reported a net income of $4.39 billion in 2022 and reported a net income of $388 million for the fourth quarter of 2023, down from the $1.025 billion it reported in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Capital One ranked No. 106 on Fortune magazine’s 2023 Fortune 1000 list and No. 386 on its 2023 Global 500 list.

CoStar Group moving global HQ to Arlington

UPDATED: Feb. 16, 10 a.m.

CoStar Group, which already has a major presence in Richmond, will invest $20 million to move its global corporate headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Arlington County’s Rosslyn area, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Tuesday.

Known for its online real estate marketplaces Apartments.com and Homes.com, the real estate analytics and data company also purchased the 560,000-square-foot Central Place Tower building at 1201 Wilson Boulevard from Bethesda, Maryland-based JBG Smith Properties and Newark, New Jersey-based PGIM Real Estate. CoStar paid $339 million for the property, according to a report from Bisnow based on CoStar’s own commercial real estate data.

About 500 corporate office employees will be relocated from downtown D.C. to Arlington, and CoStar plans to add 150 jobs at the new headquarters, where it expects to occupy 150,000 square feet in late 2024.

“The financially strategic acquisition of this building will provide the perfect home for the more than 500 employees at our current headquarters. We’re incredibly thankful for our 14 years calling Washington, D.C., home, and we will continue to be a part of this community even as we move across the river to Arlington County,” CoStar founder and CEO Andy Florance said in a statement.

In making the announcement, Youngkin said, “Virginia’s a great choice for a new corporate headquarters location, and we are excited that CoStar Group, a leading provider of online real estate marketplaces, information, and analytics in the property markets, sees the economic advantage in moving to the commonwealth. … We are proud that CoStar has chosen Virginia as its home.”

Arlington is already home to Fortune 500 companies RTX, Boeing and AES, as well as Amazon.com’s HQ2 East Coast headquarters and Nestlé’s North American headquarters.

CoStar Group will pay $13.95 million to Arlington County to obtain exclusive, sole use of the 12,000-square-foot Observation Deck in the Central Place Tower, which was the region’s highest public observation deck, offering panoramic skyline views. At 391 feet tall, the 31-story building is also the tallest in the Greater Washington region. Designed by D.C. architecture firm Beyer Blinder Belle, the building was completed in 2017. CBRE assisted with marketing Central Place. The tower’s other features include a two-story, Calacatta marble lobby with a floor-to-ceiling video wall. There’s also an outdoor public plaza offering 45,000 square feet of dining and retail space.

According to Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz, CoStar’s nearly $14 million payment to secure Observation Deck access is contingent upon approval by the county Board of Supervisors, and will be allocated toward the reconstruction of Rosslyn’s Gateway Park to be completed nearly 10 years earlier than planned. After CoStar submits required land use applications and receives approvals, the county would vacate its Observation Deck easement.

“CoStar Group’s move to Arlington is a huge win and a testament to our high quality of life, dynamic urban centers, unparalleled talent pool and business-friendly environment,” said Arlington Economic Development Director Ryan Touhill. “CoStar Group’s outright purchase of the building also signifies confidence in our commercial real estate market, which is key to our ongoing efforts to reduce office vacancies.”

Founded in 1987, CoStar employs more than 6,200 workers in 14 countries and is included in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indexes.

In addition to the Homes.com and Apartments.com residential real estate online portals, CoStar Group’s other divisions include CoStar, a provider of commercial real estate data, analytics and news; LoopNet, a leading online marketplace for commercial real estate; Ten-X, the world’s largest online commercial real estate exchange; and STR, a hospitality data and analytics division it acquired in 2019. CoStar may be best known by the general public for its Apartments.com advertisements with movie star Jeff Goldblum, including a big-budget, special effects-heavy 2024 Super Bowl ad.

CoStar moved to D.C. from Bethesda in 2010. Washington, D.C., has been plagued by record downtown office vacancy rates and an aging stock of office buildings, with buildings older than 24 years old making up about 75% of vacancies last year. Additionally, violent crime rose nearly 40% in the District last year, a point that has come up in local speculation about why Monumental Sports & Entertainment is planning a $2 billion move from D.C. to Virginia that has become a political hotpoint during the 2024 General Assembly session.

In November 2022, CoStar broke ground on its $460 million expansion in downtown Richmond, where the company employs more than 1,000 people at its research and data analytics headquarters, established in 2016. CoStar has said it plans to add 2,000 employees to the city’s local workforce when its new, 750,000-square-foot Richmond campus is expected to open in 2026.

Last year, CoStar made an $18 million commitment toward Virginia Commonwealth University’s CoStar Center for Arts and Innovation in Richmond. The $253 million center, which could begin construction this year, will house VCU’s School of the Arts and interdisciplinary programs involving business, sciences, medicine and engineering.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with Arlington Economic Development to secure CoStar’s headquarters relocation for Virginia. Youngkin approved a $1.25 million grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to assist Arlington with this project, and he also approved a $3.5 million Virginia Economic Development Incentive Grant for the project. Funding and services to support the company’s workforce training needs will be provided through VEDP’s Virginia Jobs Investment Program.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include additional details of CoStar’s acquisition of Central Place Tower.

Saving grace

When Del. Don L. Scott Jr., D-Portsmouth, was sworn in on Jan. 10 as the first Black speaker of the house in the Virginia legislature’s 405-year history, he also was likely the first leader of that illustrious body to have served time in federal prison.

Reminiscent of the literary trials of Jean Valjean, Scott’s is a story of the redemptive powers of hard work and second chances. More than that, however, it offers instructive lessons in the power of mercy and the value of putting aside political divisiveness.

Scott had served in the Navy and was nearing graduation as a law student when he was arrested in May 1994 while studying at Louisiana State University’s law library. Prosecutors alleged he headed a plot to sell more than a pound of crack cocaine. But Scott and his attorney maintained that Scott, who didn’t use drugs, was nothing more than a “mule” who knowingly agreed to pick up $26,000 in drug money because he was broke and needed money.

Del. Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, was sworn in as the speaker of the House of Delegates on Jan. 10. Scott is the first Black speaker in the legislative body’s 405-year history. Photo by Associated Press/Steve Helber

“I wish 53-year-old Don could slap the hell out of 28-year-old Don,” Scott told The Virginian-Pilot in a 2018 interview.

Though he’d graduated law school and passed the bar exam, Scott took a plea deal and ended up serving almost eight years in a federal prison in Texas, where he helped other inmates with legal briefs and taught some to read.

After Scott was released from prison, his uncle helped him find a construction job and a position doing the books for a friend’s used auto dealership. Within eight months, Scott was hired by national workforce development consultancy KRA and worked his way up over a decade to become the company’s third-ranking executive.

His former boss, KRA Chief Strategy Officer Patrick Boxall, told The Virginian-Pilot that it’s “ingrained in [KRA’s] culture to judge people based on their possible future contributions, not on where they have been.”

By 2014, Scott passed the Virginia Bar Exam but still had to appeal to the Board of Bar Examiners’ Character & Fitness Committee, which in 2015 approved his admission to the state bar at age 50.

Five years later, in 2019, Scott had already served as chair of the Portsmouth Economic Development Authority and was elected to represent Portsmouth in the House of Delegates with 66% of the vote. He’s now a partner at the law firm of Breit Biniazan and a three-term delegate who served as House minority leader before his caucus unanimously nominated him for speaker.

During a recess amid his emotional first day as speaker, Scott’s well-wishers included former Gov. Bob McDonnell, whom Scott embraced warmly. McDonnell, whose own federal conviction on corruption charges was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2016, had restored Scott’s right to vote and run for office, paving the way for the historic moment.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” The Washington Post quoted Scott saying to the former governor.

During a time when the nation is deeply politically divided, with the prospect of a bitter presidential rematch ahead, it says a lot that the person who seconded Scott’s formal nomination as speaker was Republican Del. Terry L. Austin of Botetourt County, a friend who called it “an honor.”

While it’s debatable if the fabled “Virginia Way” ideal of legislative bipartisanship and civility in favor of governing for the public good ever really existed — or actually did good — the optics of Republicans and Democrats coming together after years of gridlock lends hope that the parties may find greater consensus this session on at least some of the commonwealth’s important issues — notably the state budget, mental health, education, data centers and industrial site development, if not tougher ones like abortion, gun control or automatic restoration of felons’ rights.

As Del. Luke Torian, D-Prince William County, said, summing the day up during his formal nomination of Scott as speaker: “Del. Scott understands the redemptive power of God.”  

Electra aircraft backlog hits $8B

Manassas-based aviation startup Electra.aero has surpassed 2,000 orders for the electric short takeoff and landing (eSTOL) aircraft it’s developing, totaling an $8 billion backlog, the company announced Tuesday.

Electra signed a letter of intent in December 2023 to deliver its blown-lift, fixed-wing eSTOL aircraft to Finnish regional private air carrier startup Lygg, followed by similar agreements in January with New York helicopter tour company Charm Aviation and New Delhi-based charter jet and helicopter service JetSetGo Aviation Services Private.

The deal with JetSetGo — reached at Wings India 2024, a four-day advanced air mobility aviation conference held this month in Hyderabad, India — brought Electra’s pre-order sales for its aircraft over the 2,000 mark, with an $8 billion backlog, up from around 1,700 pre-ordered aircraft and a $6 billion backlog in November 2023.

Electra completed the first successful test flight of its prototype electric hybrid eSTOL aircraft in November 2023. Electra’s EL-2 Goldfinch took off from Manassas Regional Airport and flew 23 minutes, reaching an altitude of 3,200 feet and covering about 30 miles.

JetSetGo made the deal as part of a commitment with Electra and two other aircraft manufacturers to obtain a total of 150 aircraft for a combined $780 million, according to the Indian private air carrier. Contract options could bring the aircraft order to 280 aircraft at a total value of $1.3 billion. Lygg has disclosed that its agreement calls for Electra to deliver 150 planes beginning in 2028, with options to order an additional 150 aircraft, at a combined total value of €1 billion (or about $1.08 billion) for the 300 aircraft, according to a December 2023 news release. The privately held Electra has not disclosed the cost of its aircraft or the amounts of its pre-order contracts with private clients.

“Having followed Electra for a long time, we are convinced that they will be one of the leaders in this market. We, in turn, can offer a direct path to commercial business for their planes through our corporate customer network and operators,” Lygg CEO Roope Kekäläinen said in a statement.

In a Jan. 23 news release, Electra said it is collaborating with JetSetGo to identify relevant markets and new routes in India that can be served by the eSTOL aircraft, establishing regional transportation hubs and increased connectivity between major cities and communities underserved by flight services.

“Electra is committed to partnering with JetSetGo for the long term to grow regional transportation markets and help bring jobs and vital economic growth to communities in India,” Electra Chief Product Officer Marc Ausman said in a statement.

JetSetGo’s chief operating officer and co-founder, Kanika Tekriwal, said in a news release, “India’s geography and demographics make it an ideal launch market for advanced air mobility. We want to lead the transformation of urban and regional connectivity and believe Electra is the right partner with the technology to make this vision a reality.”

In January 2023, Electra received an $85 million award from the Air Force to accelerate prototype development, testing and evaluation. And in November 2023, Electra announced that Bristow Group, a Texas-based company that provides helicopter offshore energy transportation and search and rescue services, made a deposit for five of Electra’s future aircraft. Bristow signed a memorandum of understanding with Electra in 2021, preordering up to 50 aircraft.

Electra was founded by CEO and Chairman John Langford in 2020; the company has 40 employees and contractors. Langford previously co-founded Aurora Flight Services, a subsidiary of Arlington County-based Boeing. Langford also participates in the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp.’s Advanced Air Mobility Alliance, and the company in 2023 received a VIPC Commonwealth Commercialization Fund grant as well as an investment from VIPC’s Virginia Venture Partners.