Florida Trend | Florida's Business Authority

Tuesday's Afternoon Update

From North Miami Beach High to Facebook

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, named the fifth most powerful woman in the world by Forbes, has maintained an inner circle of women whose friendship goes back to their days together at North Miami Beach High School. Sandberg, 42, has reached the heights of success in business while still finding time to speak about the need for women to support each other. And that’s what she practices, too. [Source: Miami Herald]

Business Profile

Floridian

MotionPoint can economically translate and localize websites in more than 30 languages and drive traffic to them, allowing companies to have web presences in multiple languages and break into new markets. After nearly quadrupling revenue from 2006 to 2010, the Coconut Creek-based company continues to grow.

» MotionPoint keeps growing

Florida joins The Aerospace Alliance

The Aerospace Alliance said Florida has joined Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana as a member of the nonprofit, public-private partnership. The alliance was formed in 2009 to promote the aerospace and aviation manufacturing industry in the southeastern region of the United States. “When combined, these four states represent the fourth largest manufacturing corridor in the world,” said Neal Wade current chairman of The Aerospace Alliance and newly selected CEO of Bay County Economic Development Alliance. [Source: Jacksonville Business Journal]


Ave Maria files lawsuit against federal government

Ave Maria University President Jim Towey announced today that the university is seeking declaratory and injunctive relief from a federal court in Florida, because the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services demands the university offer health plan services that undermine its firmly-held religious convictions. [Source: Fort Myers News-Press]


New electronic billboard in Jacksonville comes with new lawsuit threat

A company that Jacksonville City Hall lawyers once refused to let build digital billboards in the city passed final city inspections last week for a pair of those signs. Now a sign-control advocate says CBS Outdoor should expect a court fight like one unfolding against another major advertising company. [Source: Florida Times-Union]


Publix tops customer satisfaction list

Publix Super Markets Inc. earned top marks for the 16th consecutive year in a respected customer satisfaction survey from the University of Michigan's National Quality Research Center. The American Customer Satisfaction Index, released today, surveyed customers on a range of retailers, including department and discount stores, health and personal services and online and specialty retailers. The scores are based on 13,000 surveys collected in the fourth quarter of 2011. [Source: Florida Today]


Out of the Box
metropole Bye, bye, booty!
Spain said Monday that it will soon send hulking military transport planes to Florida to retrieve 17 tons of treasure that Tampa-based Odyssey Marine Exploration found but ultimately lost in U.S. federal courts, a find experts have speculated could be the richest shipwreck treasure in history. The Civil Guard said Monday that agents would shortly be on their way to take possession of the booty, worth an estimated $504 million. Odyssey found the coins in a Spanish galleon, the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, in 2007 off Portugal. Spain argued successfully in court that it never relinquished ownership of the ship or its contents. Read more from the Associated Press and see Odyssey Marine.