Casino gaming revenues for Virginia’s three casinos totaled $59.3 million in July, according to Virginia Lottery data released Thursday.
Also, the $500 million HeadWaters Resort & Casino in Norfolk, which has been in a holding pattern for the past several months, could be moving forward. The Norfolk Architectural Review Board will discuss new renderings for the casino and resort at its Aug. 19 meeting.
In January, the developers — a partnership between the King William County-based Pamunkey Indian Tribe and Tennessee investor Jon Yarbrough — asked the Norfolk Architectural Review Board for an indefinite delay of the board’s review of its new plans, while the development team made design changes requested by the city. The casino operators must receive Norfolk City Council’s OK before proceeding with construction, following the architecture review board’s recommendation.
Approved by voters in November 2020, the Norfolk casino also must obtain its license from the lottery board by November 2025, or the referendum becomes null and void under state law. City officials have indicated earlier this year they could move forward on a casino project with different developers if the 2025 deadline is not met.
Meanwhile, the state’s three active casinos reported steady revenue in July. The month’s casino gaming revenues were a less than 3% decline from the $59.5 million reported for June. Earlier this month, the Virginia Lottery reported a record $5.5 billion in sales for fiscal 2024 and record profit of $934 million.
Last month, the Bristol Casino: Future Home of Hard Rock temporary casino reported about $14.84 million in adjusted gaming revenues (wagers minus winnings), of which about $11.69 million came from its 915 slots and the remaining roughly $3.15 million came from its 29 table games. The Virginia Lottery Board approved HRBristol‘s casino license in April 2022, and the Bristol casino’s temporary facility opened in July 2022, making it the first operating casino in Virginia. The permanent Hard Rock Bristol casino’s opening was pushed back from July to sometime in late fall.
After the lottery board approved its license in November 2022, Rivers Casino Portsmouth opened as Virginia’s first permanent casino in January 2023. In July, the Portsmouth casino generated about $18.26 million from its 1,389 slots and about $7.43 million from its 85 table games, for a total AGR of $25.69 million.
The temporary Caesars Virginia casino in Danville, which received its casino license in April 2023 and opened in May 2023, generated about $18.8 million in revenue last month. Almost $14.39 million of that came from its 826 slots, and about $4.4 million from its 36 table games.
Virginia law assesses a graduated tax on a casino’s adjusted gaming revenue. For the month of July, taxes from casino AGRs totaled about $10.68 million.
The host cities of Portsmouth and Danville received 6% of their respective casinos’ AGRs: about $1.5 million and $1.1 million, respectively. For the Bristol casino, 6% of its adjusted gaming revenue — about $890,500 last month — goes to the Regional Improvement Commission, which the General Assembly established to distribute Bristol casino tax funds throughout Southwest Virginia.
The Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Fund receives 0.8% of total taxes — about $85,450 for July. The Family and Children’s Trust Fund, which funds family violence prevention and treatment programs, receives 0.2% of the monthly total, which was approximately $21,360 in July.
In Central Virginia, Petersburg has received approval for its casino referendum to appear on this fall’s ballots, asking voters to approve a proposal from The Cordish Cos. that Petersburg City Council endorsed in April, canceling a competitive bidding process. On Thursday, Bruce Smith Enterprise and Cordish announced the opening of their campaign office in Petersburg, as they prepare to get out the vote for the project.
Virginia Electric and Power Co. bid $17.65 million, or approximately $100 per acre, for the lease area about 35 nautical miles from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. The Fortune 500 utility’s winning bid gives Dominion the option to construct more wind turbines, beyond the 176-turbine CVOW wind farm, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2026 and produce up to 2.6 gigawatts of electricity, powering 660,000 customers’ homes and businesses.
The area leased by Dominion could support between 2.1 gigawatts and 4.0 gigawatts of offshore wind energy generation, according to a news release from the company.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which governs leasing of ocean property, auctioned off two East Coast wind leases Wednesday. The other lease, 101,443 acres off Delaware Bay, was provisionally won by Equinor Wind US, which bid $75 million. Six companies participated in the auction, according to a federal news release. The leases don’t authorize construction or operation of an offshore wind facility, but they provide the right to submit a project plan for BOEM’s review.
This was the fifth offshore wind lease sale held during the Biden-Harris administration, which has set a goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030. Wednesday’s sale resulted in more than $23 million bidding credits, $11 million of which will go toward workforce training and domestic supply chain, and $11 million for compensatory funding for affected fisheries.
“Offshore wind is critical to our all-of-the-above approach to meet the unprecedented growth of our customer electric demand over the next decade,” Robert M. Blue, chair, president and CEO of Dominion Energy, said in a statement. “Winning this lease area gives us another low-cost option to meet that growing demand.”
Wednesday’s news came after Dominion’s announcement in July that it plans to acquire a 40,000-acre offshore wind lease off North Carolina’s Outer Banks for $160 million from Avangrid, a Connecticut-based sustainable energy company, with the deal expected to close in the fourth quarter of the year. That property will be called CVOW-South and, if fully built out, is expected to generate 800 megawatts of electricity, enough capacity to serve 200,000 homes and businesses. Dominion said last month that it does not yet have detailed cost or timeline estimates for the project.
On Monday, Dominion Energy announced workers had completed the foundation for the 50th monopile for the CVOW project. Monopiles are the foundation posts of the 176 turbines being erected.
Dominion Energy expects to hit its target of setting between 70 and 100 monopiles into the sea floor by the end of October, and have the wind farm operational by the end of 2026. Dominion will take a break from installing the wind turbines between Nov. 1, 2024, and April 30, 2025, due to federal protections for endangered North Atlantic right whales.
Dominion announced in February that it plans to sell a $3 billion, 50% stake in CVOW this year to investment firm Stonepeak, although Dominion will retain control of construction and operations of the wind farm. The deal is expected to close at the end of the year.
In April, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced a new five-year offshore wind leasing schedule, which includes up to 12 potential offshore wind lease sales through 2028.
McLean-based snack and pet care giant Mars announced Wednesday it has entered into a $35.9 billion, all-cash deal to purchase Kellanova, the maker of Cheez-It, Pop-Tarts, Pringles, Eggo and other foodbrands.
Kellanova, created in October 2023 when Kellogg split into two companies, had 2023 net sales of more than $13 billion, while the privately owned Mars had net sales of more than $50 billion, according to a news release Wednesday.
“In welcoming Kellanova’s portfolio of growing global brands, we have a substantial opportunity for Mars to further develop a sustainable snacking business that is fit for the future,” Mars CEO Poul Weihrauch said in a statement. “We will honor the heritage and innovation behind Kellanova’s incredible snacking and food brands while combining our respective strengths to deliver more choice and innovation to consumers and customers. We have tremendous respect for the storied legacy that Kellanova has built and look forward to welcoming the Kellanova team.”
Kellanova will become part of the Mars Snacking division, and will be headquartered in Chicago and led by Mars Snacking Global President Andrew Clarke after the deal is completed, the statement said.
Under the agreement’s terms, Mars will acquire all outstanding equity of Kellanova for $83.50 per share in cash, and all of Kellanova’s brands, assets and operations will be included in the transaction. The acquisition is subject to Kellanova shareholders’ approval and regulatory approvals, and is expected to close within the first half of 2025, Mars said. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation Trust and the Gund Family have entered into agreements pursuant to which they have committed to vote shares representing 20.7% of Kellanova’s common stock, as of Aug. 9, in favor of the transaction.
According to Reuters, Kellanova said the closing date of the deal could be extended by up to 12 months if the two companies don’t receive the necessary regulatory approvals by next August. If the deal does not go through due to a failure to receive regulatory approval, Mars must pay $1.25 billion to Kellanova, and likewise, if Kellanova’s board changes its mind and does not support the deal, the snack maker will have to pay Mars $800 million, Reuters reported.
Mars, the maker of M&Ms, Snickers and Twix, as well as the owner of a growing pet food and pet care business, is the largest privately held company in Virginia and the fourth largest in the nation, employing about 150,000 people worldwide. Under Weihrauch, who became CEO in 2022, Mars has aimed to double its sales by 2033 and has acquired six candy and veterinary companies over the past two years. Mars Petcare veterinary care and pet foods branch accounted for about 60% of the company’s 2023 revenue, according to the company.
However, the purchase of Kellanova is the largest acquisition proposed by Mars, which has 15 brands that marked more than $1 billion each in annual sales. On Kellanova’s end, Pringles and Cheez-It both exceed $1 billion in annual sales.
In October 2023, Kellogg Co. finalized the separation of its North American cereal and snack businesses, resulting in W.K. Kellogg Co. — owner of Frosted Flakes, Rice Krispies, Corn Flakes and other cereals — and Kellanova, which includes snack food brands such as Pop-Tarts, Pringles, Nutri-Grain, Cheez-It and Eggo, as well as vegetarian brand MorningStar Farms.
In a news release, LL Flooring said that the NYSE will “apply to the Securities and Exchange Commission to delist the company’s common stock,” although the flooring company’s stock is expected to continue trading on the OTC market.
In an Aug. 14 filing with the SEC, LL Flooring shared the stock exchange’s announcement that it would remove the flooring company’s common stock from listing and registration at the opening of business on Aug. 26, after having suspended trading of its stock on Sunday. LL Flooring said it would not appeal the NYSE’s decision.
On Sunday, the company formerly known as Lumber Liquidators announced it had entered Chapter 11bankruptcy proceedings and was pursuing a sale of its business, which saw a financial downturn in 2023, with revenue falling from $1.11 billion in fiscal 2022, when it opened 17 stores, to $904.7 million in fiscal 2023. According to the company’s news release, it intends to close 94 stores out of more than 300 nationwide, and has multiple potential buyers interested in purchasing the business, as well as a prospective purchaser of its eastern Henrico distribution center for $100 million.
In documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware this week, LL Flooring requests that the court set an Aug. 26 deadline to enter into an acquisition agreement, with an auction to be held in September if more than one qualified bid is received. LL Flooring did not disclose names of the interested buyers.
LL Flooring, according to the court filing, began working with JLL Capital Markets in the first quarter of the year to pursue a buyer for the Sandston distribution center, “in an effort to inject liquidity into the company.” In a nonbinding letter of intent, the bidder proposed a $100 million payment, and LL Flooring paid a $350,000 work fee and agreed to seek authorization of a 3% breakup fee calculated from the purchase price to be paid if another buyer purchases the center, whether as a standalone sale or part of the overall acquisition of LL Flooring’s business.
This year, 265 Virginia companies made the Inc. 5000 list of the nation’s 5,000 fastest-growing privately held companies, released Tuesday by Inc. magazine.
Ranking at No. 53 overall, AshburnIT services firm Blu Omega, a woman-owned small business founded in 2020, was the highest-ranking Virginia company on the list. Blu Omega’s clients include federal agencies as well as small and medium-size businesses. This was the first year Blu Omega made the list.
Two other Virginia companies ranked among the top 100 companies on the 2024 Inc. 5000 list: Fortreum, a Lansdowne firm providing cybersecurity and cloud assessment services, ranked No. 78; and Servos, a Richmond technology consulting company, ranked No. 99. This was the first year on the list for both companies.
Last year, 275 Virginia companies made the list and Leesburg‘s Goldschmitt and Associates, an information technology company, was Virginia’s top-ranked company, coming in at No. 34. Three other Virginia companies ranked within the top 100 in 2023.
Virginia companies on the 2024 list had a median three-year growth rate of 194% and added a total of 32,868 jobs. Of the Virginia companies that made the list, 186 are repeat winners.
North Carolina had 126 companies on the list, and Maryland had 116.
To apply to make the list, companies had to be privately held, for profit and not a subsidiary or division of another company. They also had to generate a minimum of $100,000 in revenue in 2020 and a minimum of $2 million in 2023.
Companies from every state and Puerto Rico made the 2024 Inc. 5000. They range in size from one employee up to 262,079 employees and had made from about $2 million revenue in 2023 to $15.5 billion. Reston‘s Carahsoft Technology made that whopping sum. The company, which provides IT services, ranked No. 4,650 on the list. It’s the 17th time Carahsoft has made the Inc. 5000.
Ranked by three-year average growth, these are the top 25 Virginia companies on the 2024 Inc. 5000 list:
53) Blu Omega, 5,218%, IT services, Ashburn
78) Fortreum, 3,831%, IT services, Lansdowne
99) Servos, 3,249%, IT services, Richmond
119) Cynet Health, 2,848%, human resources, Sterling
123) National Consulting Partners, 2,797%, government services, Woodbridge
138) Black Canyon Consulting, 2,479%, IT services, Fairfax
EDITOR’S NOTE:On Aug. 20, a federal judge in Texas ruled against the Federal Trade Commission‘s ban on noncompete agreements, which was scheduled to go into effect Sept. 4. In striking down the FTC’s pending rule, U.S. District Judge Ada Brown called it “arbitrary and capricious” and an “unlawful agency action.” An FTC spokesperson said that the agency was considering an appeal of the verdict. The judge’s ruling does not impact existing state restrictions governing noncompete agreements.
Some Virginia attorneys have spent the past several months preparing clients for a potential future without noncompete agreements, even though there’s still a chance that a federal ban won’t become reality.
A four-month saga is ending in much the same way it began: marked by plenty of legal drama. In April, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a final rule banning noncompetes nationwide, barring employers from entering into such agreements with employees in the future and invalidating most existing clauses. That announcement was promptly met with various lawsuits that have been working their way through district courts ever since.
Like any good legal drama, there’s plenty of tension and suspense. Federal district court judges in Pennsylvania and Texas have split on whether the FTC has the regulatory authority to issue such a ban. In the days leading up to Sept. 4, when the rule is scheduled to take effect, all eyes will be on Texas, where a federal district judge who partially blocked the ban in early July plans to issue a ruling by Aug. 30.
Regardless of that decision, it’s likely the spotlight on noncompetes won’t dim anytime soon, as the FTC’s ban has been deeply contentious since the idea was first floated by the independent federal agency in early 2023. Ban supporters say it’s a win for workers and the economy more broadly. Opponents argue it will put valuable intellectual property at risk and stifle innovation.
Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia, a Washington, D.C.-based partner with international law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, has been an outspoken critic of the rule, and his legal team is representing Ryan LLC, the Dallas-based global tax services firm that first sued the FTC. That case, Ryan LLC v. FTC, is currently in the hands of the Texas federal district judge.
Ryan’s case has been supported by business organizations like the Society for Human Resource Management and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the latter of which is a co-plaintiff in the case. In short, Ryan filed its lawsuit out of concern it would no longer be able to protect the firm’s proprietary information if an employee took a job with a competitor. “The ban would make it easy for top professionals to go across the street and compete against us,” said Ryan’s chief legal officer, John Smith, in an interview with the Associated Press.
Scalia’s team is confident they’ll prevail with their challenge, according to Andrew G.I. Kilberg, a partner working on the case. But they’ve also been advising other clients, including those who are very concerned about the potential ban on noncompete agreements, about the merits of contingency planning. “The rule really harms them if it goes into effect,” Kilberg says.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business associations joined the team’s challenge in May. The “amazing outpouring of support” for the challenge is also a telling indication of the effect the FTC rule could have on various industries, Kilberg says: “It’s a dramatic expansion of federal authority that interferes with an important tool to protect investments, employee development, intellectual property and methods of doing business that sometimes take years to develop.”
Opportunity for review
Many lawyers are similarly skeptical of whether the FTC’s ban will prevail in court, which is why they’re generally advising clients to take a wait-and-see approach while the legal process plays out. But another, trickier-to-navigate outcome is possible: The noncompete ban could go into effect as planned but then prove to be short-lived, as it could be either struck down by a higher court or overturned by a second Trump administration if the former president is victorious in the November election.
Brint Ryan, owner of Ryan LLC, has previously advised Donald Trump on tax policy.
The FTC’s potential ban on noncompete agreements is “forcing employers to take a look at what they’re doing with noncompetes and talk to legal counsel,” says Leah Stiegler, a Richmond-based management-side employment attorney and principal at law firm Woods Rogers. Photo courtesy Woods Rogers
Regardless of what transpires at the federal level, a period of “waiting and watching mode” has still proven valuable, notes Leah Stiegler, a Richmond-based management-side employment attorney and principal at law firm Woods Rogers. “It’s at least forcing employers to take a look at what they’re doing with noncompetes and talk to legal counsel.”
The biggest red flag, Stiegler says, is when an employer wants to impose noncompetes on every single employee. But there are less-glaring issues that may need to be addressed once the dust settles. She categorizes these into two groups: noncompetes that should be scrapped altogether or not enforced, and noncompetes that require revisions to be more narrowly tailored and consistent with state law if the national ban doesn’t take effect.
As part of this review process, it’s also important to consider the wide variety of documents where noncompete clauses often appear, recommends John E. Thomas Jr., a partner focused on employment law at the Tysons office of Richmond law firm McGuireWoods. While people most often associate noncompetes with an employment offer letter, employers may also include them in equity plan agreements or LLC formation documents, he adds.
“We always explore the full gamut of possibilities where these types of clauses exist,” Thomas says.
Noncompetes in Virginia
If it’s been a while since you last looked at documents containing noncompete clauses, it’s possible state law has changed in the interim. Beginning in 2020, Virginia employers were prohibited from entering into, enforcing or threatening to enforce noncompete agreements with “low-wage employees,” with the current annual salary threshold set at $73,320.
Because Virginia courts don’t generally like these agreements, employers here should still undertake a thorough review of their noncompetes, even in the likely event the federal ban doesn’t take effect and the status quo remains, says Tom Spiggle, an employment law attorney based in Alexandria. “Make sure noncompetes are considered necessary and are well thought-out because Virginia courts will strike them down if they’re overbroad.”
Tom Spiggle. Photo courtesy The Spiggle Law Firm
While the disputed FTC rule is “the most bold initiative” yet, Thomas says, it’s part of a longer-running trend across the country, including in Virginia, in which courts don’t enforce noncompetes unless they’re narrowly tailored. “The trend toward unenforceability of noncompetes is not a new phenomenon,” he says.
What is new? Like Virginia, other states have revised noncompete laws in recent years, creating additional burdens for Virginia businesses with employees in other states, says Ryan Glasgow, a partner focused on labor and employment litigation in the Richmond office of law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth. “Taking a one-size-fits-all approach with noncompetes is risky.”
Stiegler adds that courts are often looking at three things when assessing the enforceability of noncompetes: geographic scope, duty scope and temporal scope. But some states, she says, may impose other requirements, like a salary threshold or a stipulation about the nature of an employee’s departure from the company.
In addition to ensuring compliance with state laws, employers should consider whether these clauses are appropriate on a job-by-job and employee-by-employee basis, Glasgow recommends. “What may be enforceable for one type of position may not be enforceable for another.”
A healthy ban?
Identifying what noncompetes are in place has been a straightforward endeavor for some companies and more burdensome for others, Glasgow notes. Likewise, determining who fits the FTC’s definition of “senior executives” — for whom existing noncompetes can remain in force if the FTC ban takes effect — has been “a bit of a headache” for big companies, he adds.
If the ban takes effect, employers will be required by Sept. 4 to provide notice to workers who are bound by an existing noncompete (except for senior executives) that the company will no longer be enforcing the agreements.
Because noncompetes are seen as essential within certain industries, many business advocates sprang into action when the ban began to be bandied about last year. The FTC estimates that 18% of U.S. workers are currently covered by noncompetes, while the American Medical Association estimates that 37% to 45% of physicians are impacted. (While the FTC ban doesn’t apply to nonprofits, the agency could review health care organizations’ nonprofit status.)
The rule could negatively impact recruiting efforts by health care systems, particularly in rural communities, according to Sean T. Connaughton, president and CEO of the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association. “This development is especially troubling at a time when the health care sector continues to contend with workforce shortages across many clinical roles,” he said in a statement.
For its part, along with other projected benefits to workers, businesses and the overall economy, the FTC estimates that the ban could lower health care costs by up to $194 billion over the next decade, stating that noncompetes are shown to drive health care system mergers and price increases.
But the Ryan case challenging the ban has questioned some of the FTC’s assertions, arguing it will result in less innovation. “At a large scale, it would be detrimental to the economy,” Kilberg says.
When considering what industries are most affected, health care is “the big one,” Spiggle says, though noncompetes are also commonplace among people working in sales and as government contractors.
Room for debate
More broadly, the attention on noncompetes could foster positive workplace relationships as employers and employees become more aware of issues addressed by the agreements, such as intellectual property and employee mobility, says Lillien Ellis, an assistant professor of leadership and organizations with the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. It’s important for employees to recognize why these agreements are so frequently relied upon by businesses — and for employers to understand why they can pose challenges for employees, she adds.
Noncompetes have never been a foolproof way to protect employers’ interests, and that’s become increasingly true as courts take inconsistent approaches to their enforceability, Stiegler notes. Companies still have a lot of leverage — including options that potentially have “more teeth” than simply barring an employee from working for a competitor, she adds. These include confidentiality, nondisclosure, nonsolicitation and clawback agreements, along with trade secret contracts.
But Glasgow cautions that employers should be prepared for extra scrutiny of workplace agreements if the ban takes effect. If those agreements are so broadly worded as to have the effect of preventing employees from working for competitors, they’ll likely be unenforceable, he adds.
Four months may not be enough time to fully put the debate about noncompetes to rest. When the FTC began considering the ban in 2023, it received more than 26,000 public comments, ranging from workers who felt they were unduly burdened by noncompetes to employers who see the agreements as essential to doing business.
Presuming the FTC’s ban is ultimately enjoined, Kilberg hopes that any future discussion of a national standard for noncompetes should be handled by Congress and not unelected commissioners.
Whether noncompetes are here to stay or on the way out, the debate about their merits could be a springboard for discussing issues like employee mobility and workplace dynamics, Ellis says. “Do we like the way employer-employee relations are being handled? Does everyone agree this is working? And, if not, what are we going to do about it?”
The contract modification to a previously awarded undefinitized contract action includes life-cycle development, training and support for the Air Force’s E-7A fleet. The E-7A Wedgetail provides targeted tracking and battle management command-and-control capabilities to joint forces for a “first to detect, first to engage” advantage, according to a news release.
“Our customers have an urgent need for integrated battle-space awareness and battle management,” Dan Gillian, vice president and general manager of Boeing Defense, Space & Security’s Mobility, Surveillance & Bombers division, said in a statement. “The E-7A is the airspace linchpin to continuously scan the skies, command and control the battle space and integrate all-domain data, providing a decisive advantage against threats.”
Based on the Boeing 737-700 Next Generation airframe, the E-7 AEW&C aircraft is used by the Royal Australian Air Force, Republic of Korea Air Force (designated the E-737 Peace Eye) and Turkish Air Force (designated the E-7T Peace Eagle).
In addition to building the rapid prototype aircraft for the U.S., Boeing is producing three E-7As for the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force. The heads of the Royal Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force and the U.S. Air Force signed a joint vision statement in July 2023 outlining their agreement to collaborate on the Wedgetail’s development.
Also, in November 2023, NATO ordered six E-7A Wedgetail aircraft to replace its E-3A Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft, which it has operated a fleet of since the 1980s, for an undisclosed amount.
“Global operators are proving that the E-7 AEW&C is a critical node for air superiority in the modern battle space,” Stu Voboril, Boeing vice president and E-7 program manager, said in a statement. “In our partnership with the U.S. Air Force, we’re focused on stable, predictable execution to deliver crucial mission-ready capabilities today. This will put us on the path for the long-term growth of the aircraft and mission.”
Work on the U.S. contract will be performed in Tukwila, Washington, and is expected to be completed by Aug. 28, 2029, according to the U.S. Defense Department.
Boeing’s assembly process for its 737 Max 9 aircraft has come under scrutiny since a 4-foot wall panel blew out of a Boeing plane cabin during an Alaska Airlines flight on Jan. 5.
The Federal Aviation Administration conducted a six-week audit of Boeing and supplier Spirit AeroSystems, which Boeing announced plans to acquire for $4.7 billion on July 1. Boeing submitted an action plan to correct issues found in the audit to the FAA, which will have continued oversight of the company.
Last week, the National Transportation Safety Board held two days of hearings investing the door plug blowout. Testimony from Boeing workers and federal inspectors revealed systemic manufacturing problems.
Boeing’s new president and CEO, Robert “Kelly” Ortberg, started his tenure Thursday.
Also, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company has received a nonbinding letter of intent to sell its Henrico County distribution center for approximately $100 million.
The company has more than 300 stores across the country, and it plans to close 94 stores, according to the Sunday news release. Meanwhile, LL Flooring is “in active negotiations with multiple bidders and hopes to seek bankruptcy court approval of a sale of its business in the first few weeks of the Chapter 11 proceedings,” it said.
“After comprehensive efforts to enhance our liquidity position in a challenging macro environment, a determination was made that initiating this Chapter 11 process is the best path forward for the company,” LL Flooring President and CEO Charles Tyson said in a statement. “Today’s step is intended to provide LL Flooring with additional time and financial flexibility as we reduce our physical footprint and close certain stores while pursuing a going-concern sale of the rest of our business. As we move through this process, we are committed to continuing to serve our valued customers, and to working seamlessly with our vendors and partners. I am appreciative of our associates for their ongoing hard work in providing the best experience for our customers.”
Tyson became CEO of LL Flooring in 2020, a year after the company was forced to pay $33 million to settle allegations of securities fraud, and although the company opened 17 stores in 2022, sales fell from $1.11 billion in fiscal 2022 to $904.7 million in fiscal 2023. In June 2023, LL Flooring’s board rejected an unsolicited acquisition proposal from Cabinets to Go, a subsidiary of F9 Brands, which then began a proxy fight.
In July, news broke that LL Flooring was considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and shareholders elected three F9 nominees to the company’s board. However, in the August SEC filing, LL Flooring revealed that the three F9 board members resigned shortly after the decision to enter Chapter 11 proceedings.
Virginia’s growing inventory of project-ready sites was a factor in CNBC naming the commonwealth America’s Top State for Business in July, Gov. Youngkin noted in a Thursday news release. The financial news network weighted infrastructure heavily this year in its rankings and rated the state third in the nation for infrastructure, saying that Virginia is a good spot for “companies that want to build fast.”
“Before we took office, Virginia was significantly behind our competitor states,” Youngkin said in a statement Thursday. “We must continue the concerted effort we’ve made to invest in sites over the course of my administration.”
Localities can apply for matching grants from the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program to assist with the initial assessments of sites and to develop project-ready sites. The program is administered by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. In January, 21 projects received $90 million in grants for site preparation.
The City of Chesapeake got the largest grant of those announced Thursday: a $35 million award for its Coastal Virginia Megasite, which encompasses more than 4,000 acres near the Virginia and North Carolina lines.
The site is currently designated Tier 3 by the state, meaning it is zoned for industrial or commercial development and that due diligence has been completed on the property, according to Steven Wright, Chesapeake’s director of economic development for Chesapeake. Wright says the $35 million will help the site move toward a Tier 4 designation, meaning all infrastructure is within a year of being in place and that all permitting issues have been identified. Tier 5 is the highest designation, meaning land is “shovel-ready.”
“So that’s a pretty heavy lift,” Wright said. “This $35 million is really going to help us do that and expedite that process.”
The City of Roanoke received a $7.5 million grant that will be combined with a $2.5 million match of city funds to develop its 82-acre “Tract 8” property that is located near Blue Hills Drive. It’s one of the last developable properties in the city for manufacturing.
Currently, the property is designated Tier 3, according to Alicia Cundiff, an economic development specialist for the city.
“This funding will help it get all the way up to a Tier 5, which is great, because once it’s a Tier 5, it’s deemed shovel-ready, and we can start showing it to prospects,” she said.
In the project’s first phase, design and permitting work will be completed. The second phase will be construction. “So clearing the land and grading the land and finishing the access road,” Cundiff noted.
Other Virginia Business Ready Sites Program development grants announced Thursday included:
Chesterfield County received $13 million for Upper Magnolia Green
Prince George County received $10 million for Crosspointe Logistics Centre
The City of Staunton received $9 million for Staunton Crossing
The City of Danville received $9 million for the Coleman Site
Greensville County received $8.5 million for the Mid-Atlantic Advanced Manufacturing Center
Pittsylvania County received $6 million for the Southern Virginia Megasite at Berry Hill
Franklin County received $5.5 million for the Summit View Business Park
Wythe County received about $5.1 million for lot 10 of Progress Park
Rockingham County received $4.5 million for Innovation Village at Rockingham
The City of Suffolk received $3.5 million for the Port 460 Logistics Center
The City of Radford received $3.5 million for the VCI Property
Sussex County received $1.5 million for Sussex Green Enterprise Park
Bedford County received $1.5 million for the New London Business and Technology Park
Brunswick County received $1 million for Stonewall
Seven Virginia-based companies made Fortune magazine’s 35th Global 500 list, released Monday. Companies were ranked by total revenues for fiscal years ending on or before March 31.
McLean‘s Freddie Mac remained the commonwealth’s top-ranked company at No. 88 — up 45 spots from 2023. The government-sponsored home mortgage company reported net income of $10.5 billion for full-year 2023, an increase of 13% year-over-year. Its former CEO, Michael DeVito, retired earlier this year, and President Mike Hutchins is serving as interim CEO.
Boeing, headquartered in Arlington County, followed at No. 159 — up from No. 197 in 2023 — with $77.8 billion in revenue. It’s a silver lining for a company facing herculean challenges stemming from the midair blowout of its 737 Max 9 jet in January, which has led to financial woes and federal scrutiny ever since.
In late July, Boeing’s board of directors named Robert K. “Kelly” Ortberg the aerospace and defense giant’s next president and CEO, succeeding Dave Calhoun, who previously announced his intention to step down after a turbulent, nearly four-year tenure as the company’s leader. In July, Boeing finalized a guilty plea to a federal criminal fraud conspiracy charge, under which it will pay at least $243.6 million in fines for violating a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Justice Department that stemmed from Boeing’s role in two fatal 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019. Meanwhile, Boeing received no orders for its 737 Max planes in April and May, and in June, it sold only three 737 Max jets.
RTX, which is also based in Arlington County and was formerly Raytheon Technologies, came in at No. 188 — up from No. 195 last year. The aerospace and defense contractor reported $68.9 billion in revenue in 2023, up 3% from the prior year.
Goochland County’s Performance Food Group took the No. 272 spot, up from No 304 last year and came in as Virginia’s fourth highest-ranking company on the list. The food and foodservice distribution company reported $57.3 billion in net sales for fiscal 2023, a 13% increase over 2022.
Eight Virginia companies made the Fortune Global 500 last year. Goochland County’s CarMax fell off the list in 2024, after ranking No. 498 in 2023. In an April earnings call, CEO Bill Nash said the market for the used car industry is challenging because “vehicle affordability and widespread macro factors continue to pressure sales.”
Taking the lead of the Fortune Global 500 for the 11th consecutive year is Walmart. The Arkansas-based retailer reported $648.1 billion for its 2024 fiscal year which ended Jan. 31. Walmart has held the No. 1 spot 19 times since 1995. Amazon followed at No. 2, up from No. 4 in 2023, with net sales of $574.8 billion, a 12% increase over 2022.
The United States had more companies on the list (139) than Greater China (133) for the first time since 2018. Greater China includes the mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Of the 10 most profitable Fortune Global 500 companies, nine out of 10 are located in China and the United States.
These are the Virginia-based companies that made the 2024 Fortune Global 500 list, in order of ranking:
88) Federal Home Loan Mortgage (“Freddie Mac”), McLean
159) Boeing, Arlington County
188) RTX, Arlington County
272) Performance Food Group, Goochland County
304) Capital One Financial, McLean
362) General Dynamics, Reston
382) Northrop Grumman, Falls Church
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