Black Enterprise magazine has released its 40th annual BE100 report, an analysis of 230 businesses that are controlled by a black majority. The report is separated into seven categories based on industry, including industrial/service companies, auto dealers, advertising agencies, private equity firms, investments banks, banks, and asset management firms. Of Black Enterprise’s exclusive list, 17 of America’s highest-earning black-owned companies are based in Georgia.
Of the Georgia-based service companies, H.J. Russell & Co. posted the highest revenue, bringing in $270 million. The minority contractor and construction company runs out of Atlanta, and has been at the heart of several of the expanding city’s most visible projects, including expansions on America’s busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson, and past work on the Georgia Dome and Philips Arena.
IMAGES USA, also based in Atlanta, was the third highest ranked black advertising agency, having created high-profile ads for companies like Wachovia, Amtrak and Jack Daniels. Citizens Trust Bank, or as it is more formally known Citizens Bancshares Corp., posted the highest overall revenue of any black-owned business in Georgia, earning almost $400 million.
The Atlanta metro area continues to establish itself as a center in the black business community, and is home to many of the country’s most successful minority-owned companies.
