Richmond’s Need Supply Co. closes permanently
Richmond-based clothing and home goods retailer Need Supply Co. has gone under due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will permanently cease operations, its attorney confirmed Tuesday. The store has not issued a public statement, including on its website or social media sites. “Need Supply Co. has made the difficult decision to wi[...]
Private equity firm acquires Herndon tech company
Herndon-based tech company Exostar LLC announced Tuesday it has been acquired by Chicago-based private equity firm Thoma Bravo LLC. The acquisition was first announced in early June. The transaction amount was not disclosed. Exostar is a cloud-based platform that allows companies to securely share information and operate with security compliance. The platform is used by […]
PNC names new Greater Washington regional president
Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group Inc. announced Tuesday that Jermaine Johnson will succeed Richard K. Bynum as Greater Washington regional president as of Aug. 1, overseeing the bank’s operations in the greater Washington, D.C., area, including Northern Virginia and surrounding Maryland counties. Currently t[...]
UPDATED: Nearly 110K Virginia businesses received PPP funds
The U.S. Small Business Administration has released a list of major recipients of its $659 billion Paycheck Protection Program small business relief program, with exact loan amounts redacted. Of the nearly 110,000 small businesses that received funding in Virginia (including Virginia Business Media LLC), approximately 16,100 businesses in Virginia were named on the list of […]
Roanoke County launches small business relief grants
The Roanoke County Economic Development Department announced Monday it has launched a $1 million small business grant program to help businesses suffering from COVID-19 closures in the county and the town of Vinton. The program is being funded through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and wil[...]
U.S. nonresidential construction spending dropped in May
Nonresidential construction spending in the U.S. dropped 0.9% during the month of May, the Associated Builders and Contractors announced Wednesday, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Spending totaled $812.5 billion for the month of May while private nonresidential spending dropped 2.4%. “Certain aspects of today’s data release are precisely what was anticipated, while other elements […][...]
Atlantic Coast Pipeline canceled
Despite a favorable recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Dominion Energy Inc. and Duke Energy Corp. announced Sunday that they are abandoning plans to build the controversial, long-delayed Atlantic Coast Pipeline. The 600-mile, $8 billion-plus natural gas pipeline was supposed to run from West Virginia through Virginia to eastern N[...]
Fleetwood Homes launching $2.1M expansion in Rocky Mount
Homebuilding company Fleetwood Homes will invest $2.1 million to renovate and expand its Rocky Mount facility, creating 60 jobs in Franklin County, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Thursday. “Fleetwood Homes has been a valued employer in Virginia more than 50 years, and we are proud to see the company reinvest in Franklin County,” Northam said in […]
366K+ Virginians remain jobless
More than 366,000 Virginians are still unemployed following the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, and initial jobless claims rose by more than 6,000 last week. The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced Thursday that 906,734 people have filed initial unemployment claims since March 15. Nearly 32,000 Virginians filed initial claims last week, an increase of […]
COVID-19 death toll underreported, study finds
A joint Virginia Commonwealth University and Yale University study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that the COVID-19 death counts reported to the U.S. public underestimate the true death toll of the pandemic in the country. “There are several potential reasons for this under-count,” lead author Dr. Steven Woolf, director […]
Va. Minority Business Commission starts Wednesday
With the initiation of a swath of bills passed during the most recent Virginia General Assembly session, the bill that creates the Minority Business Commission went into effective Wednesday, July 1. The Minority Business Commission will provide policy input and operational guidance to the General Assembly with a goal of addressi[...]
The Branch Group CEO resigns
Roanoke-based construction company The Branch Group Inc. announced Wednesday that CEO Will Karbach has resigned. Ron Oakley, the current chairman of the board, will serve as interim CEO, effective immediately. Upon the announcement Wednesday afternoon, The Branch Group had not provided a reason for Karbach’s departure and [...]














