Monday's Afternoon Update
Office Depot and Alibaba team up to tap small and medium businesses
Office Depot and e-commerce giant Alibaba.com announced Monday they would create an online store to extend their reach to small businesses in the U.S. The partnership could help the Boca Raton office supply retailer better compete with Amazon, which also has been targeting small business customers. See the announcement from Office Depot and read more from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and Reuters.
Construction of new Frostproof steel mill to begin soon
John Ferriola, chairman and CEO of Nucor Corp., and other company officials said they expect construction to begin in April on the North Carolina-based steel company’s new “micro-mill” near Frostproof. It’s expected to bring 250 well-paying jobs to Polk County. More from the Lakeland Ledger.
Publix reports all-time high for sales, profits in 2018
Publix sold a record $36.1 billion in groceries and goods in 2018 and netted $2.4 billion in profits, the supermarket chain reported Friday. Lakeland-headquartered Publix Super Markets reported fourth-quarter and year-end earnings Friday, saying that same-store sales were up 1.1 percent for the three months leading ending Dec. 29, and up 2.1 percent for the whole year. More from the Orlando Sentinel.
Sarasota County negotiating with neighboring jurisdiction for hurricane shelter help
With the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season just three months away, Sarasota County officials are working with neighboring Charlotte County to get staffing and security support for shelters in the event of an evacuation. More from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
A lot went wrong in Florida’s 2018 election. That may have actually been a good thing.
It would have seemed absurd to say it amid all the accusations of voter fraud, blown deadlines and lawsuits, but now that the haze of Florida’s midterm debacle has cleared, the 2018 election fiasco could actually prove to be a good thing for the country’s premier battleground state. More from the Times/Herald.
Legal Trends
Ransomware-related crimes
As an adjunct math professor at Miami Dade College, Raymond Uadiale earned glowing reviews on a website where students rate their professors. As a student, the Nigerian immigrant did well enough in his graduate school telecom and network studies at Florida International University that his GPA placed him among the top performers in his class. Then, in 2018, Uadiale was indicted for money laundering in a ransomware scheme that reaped nearly $100K from victims.
» More from Florida Trend.
Business Profile
Go Epic Health
An investment banker by trade, seasoned with a healthy dose of humanitarianism, Jim Price has worn many hats throughout his career: Army veteran; co-founder of a venture capital firm in India; creator of an online art distribution portal; founder of an orphanage in war-torn Sierra Leone. The list goes on. He added entrepreneur to his resume in 2015. That's when he founded St. Petersburg-based Go Epic Health.
» Read more from the Business Observer.