The Peach State picked up a new Fortune 500 company this year, expanding Georgia’s collection of marquee corporations that includes Delta Air Lines, Home Depot and Coca-Cola.
Assurant, a global insurance provider, officially moved its headquarters from New York to its Cobb County office at the end of 2022 to follow the company’s new CEO, who lives in Atlanta. The relocation allows Georgia to boast 19 companies on Fortune’s 2023 list of the 500 largest American companies by revenue, which was released in early June.
All but two — Columbus-based Aflac and Calhoun-based Mohawk Industries — have their home base in metro Atlanta, which the city’s business leaders tout as a sign of Atlanta’s draw for attracting and growing large corporations.
“Metro Atlanta is a natural place for companies at any stage to grow. We were built for business from the beginning,” Katie Kirkpatrick, president and CEO of the Metro Atlanta Chamber, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a written statement. “A critical mass of Fortune 500 and 1000 companies are here because of our region’s talent, strategic location and business-friendly climate.”
The increase bumps Georgia up to the state with the 9th most Fortune 500 companies, although that status might be short-lived.
Atlanta-based NCR is expected to split into two companies by the end of the year, which will likely result in both new entities falling off the Fortune 500 list. The automated teller and financial technology company, long-rumored as a potential acquisition target, is on pace to divide into one company focused on ATMs and another focused on digital commerce.
If the split happens as planned, the decoupled financial technology companies will likely rank in the magazine’s list of the nation’s top 1000 corporations.
NCR recently put office space in one of its headquarters’ two towers up for sublease, as first reported by real estate publication Bisnow. The 14-story tower includes 277,000 square feet of office space, according to marketing materials on LoopNet. NCR’s 765,000-square-foot campus at Georgia Tech’s Technology Square opened in 2018 and is under a long-term lease.
A NCR spokesperson declined to comment about the company’s future office plans.
Assurant’s addition will likely keep Georgia’s Fortune 500 list consistent, but a company spokesperson said the new Atlanta headquarters won’t drastically change the company’s operations. Keith Demmings, who lives in Atlanta, was named as Assurant’s president and CEO in January 2022, which prompted the change headquarters locations without changing much logistically.
“We remain committed to the Atlanta area and continue to view it as an important hub for both talent and operations for Assurant,” the company said in a written statement.
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