Welcome Back
Welcome back. I hope you all got to enjoy some time off this summer.
It’s been a busy summer for us here at Marcum LLP (“Marcum”). As many of you have heard, Marcum signed a definitive agreement over the summer for our non-attest practice (tax, advisory, technology, placement) to be acquired by CBIZ, Inc. (“CBIZ”). Simultaneously, our attest practice (audits, reviews, and compilations) will be acquired by CBIZ, CPAs, PC, and a CBIZ affiliate. CBIZ, based in Cleveland, Ohio, is a leading national financial, insurance and advisory services provider. Together, CBIZ & Marcum will be the seventh largest accounting services provider in the US, with approximately $2.8 billion in annual revenue. We expect the transaction to close sometime in the fourth quarter of this year.
CBIZ traces its roots back to 1987 when it was formed as Stout Environmental, Inc. Republic Industries acquired it in 1992. CBIZ first became a public company in October 1996, when it was known as International Alliance Services, Inc. (Nasdaq: IASI). In 1997, it sold its environmental services operations, changed its name to Century Business Services, Inc., and moved to the NYSE. The company changed its name to CBIZ in 2005.
When the transaction closes, I will step down as Marcum’s CEO and continue with CBIZ as a senior adviser to CBIZ’s CEO, Jerry Grisko, whom I have known for nearly ten years. Jerry has done an impressive job building CBIZ since becoming CEO in 2016. At the time Jerry took the reins at CBIZ, its stock (NYSE: CBZ) was trading at $10.42 per share. As I wrote this column yesterday, it was trading at $71.83, creating a company with a market cap of just under $4 billion. I look forward to working with Jerry on various strategic initiatives for the combined business.
As my job as CEO comes to an end, so will this weekly column, which will continue up to the Friday before we become CBIZ, as it has for the past 11 years. I will spend the next several weeks in these writing, walking down memory lane and reminiscing about my 43 years at Marcum. There’s the history, the vision, the adventures, and all the people who played a role along the way and were instrumental in our success. Hopefully, I won’t forget any of them. I’ve been fortunate to lead Marcum since 1990, but this has certainly been a team effort, both inside and outside the firm.
So begins the next chapter. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for The Marcum Retrospective (it sounds like a Robert Ludlum title).
