Corporate presence in Orlando

[The Voice of Reason]

Largest employers from the Book of Lists, UCF Florida and Metro forecast

Business Name Employees

Walt Disney World Co. 62,000

Orange County Public Schools 23,373

Darden Restaurants Inc. 21,372

Florida Hospital Orlando 16,000

Publix Super Markets Inc. 15,606

Orlando Regional Healthcare 14,300

Universal Studios 13,000

UCF 8,946

Seminole County Public Schools 8,365

Westgate Resorts/C. Fla. Investments 7,220

Lockheed Martin 7,000

Orange County Government 6,893

Marriott International Inc. 6,312

Lake County Public School District 6,160

SeaWorld Orlando 6,000

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. 5,369

UPS 5,335

Rosen Hotels & Resorts 5,000

Walgreen Co. 4,025

Cox Enterprises Inc. 3,931

Embarq (Sprint Corp.) 3,900

Siemens 3,600

Cendant Corp. 3,201

City of Orlando 3,200

SunTrust Banks Inc. 3,165

Valencia Community College 2,938

CVS Corp. 2,900

Space Gateway Support 2,886

Wyndham Vacation Ownership 2,856

Loews Hotels Corp. 2,800

Northrop Grumman Corp. 2,659

FedEx Corp. 2,600

Lowes Cos. Inc. 2,546

Cingular Wireless LLC 2,500

Wachovia Corp. 2,400

Southwest Airlines 2,332

Central Florida YMCA 2,300

Hilton Hotels Corp. 2,100

Leesburg Regional Medical Center 2,093

Mears Transportation Group 2,000

AirTran Airways 2,000

The Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort 2,000

HCA Inc. 1,962

The Villages of Lake-Sumter Inc. 1,951

Convergys 1,950

Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center 1,914

Wachovia Bank N.A. 1,900

Bank of America Corp. 1,775

Bright House Networks 1,724

Seminole Community College 1,658

Health Central 1,623

Subway Restaurants 1,600

Tempus Resorts International 1,400

Home Depot Supply (Hughes Supply Inc.) 1,332

Orlando Sentinel Communications 1,316

Progress Energy Inc. 1,300

Orange Lake Country Club and Affiliates 1,200

Hyatt Corp. 1,193

Harcourt Inc. 1,137

CNL Financial Group 1,078

Washington Mutual Inc. 1,028

HMSHost Corp. 950

Delta Air Lines Inc. 941

American Automobile Association 867

Coca-Cola Bottling Company 850

Oracle Corp. 840

Island One Resorts 819

Fiserv Inc. 800

BellSouth Corp. 500

So these are pretty much Orlandos largest employers based on the usual generic information sources.

RED is tourism or service industry related.

BLUE is health industry

GREEN is Education or government related.

I figure the YMCA is kind of civic. this leaves the following companies as the largest corporate citizens.

Anyone else have any additional info to bolser these numbers? I know That BNY-Mellon has a fairly large work force in Orlando

something like 500 according to my inside sources.

I am sure there are some large private employers that work in the corporate world. Do you have a large utility company?Law firms?Accounting companies?investment firms?regional banks?

EDIT

I edited in the other list.

[prahaboheme]

^There is a large corporate presence not reflected in this list in Seminole County, downtown, at South Park, and to a lesser degree in Osceola.

Also, I don't know why tourism is being singled out as a negative quality in Orlando's job force.

[smileguy]

Here are a few more employers from the Metro Orlando EDC list. More info and Statistics on http://www.business-orlando.org/Data-Cente...rindustry.shtml

Publix Super Markets Inc. 15,606

Marriott International Inc. 6,312

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. 5,369

Cox Enterprises Inc. 3,931

Embarq (Sprint Corp.) 3,900

Siemens 3,600

Cendant Corp. 3,201

SunTrust Banks Inc. 3,165

CVS Corp. 2,900

Space Gateway Support 2,886

Loews Hotels Corp. 2,800

Northrop Grumman Corp. 2,659

FedEx Corp. 2,600

Lowes Cos. Inc. 2,546

Cingular Wireless LLC 2,500

Wachovia Corp. 2,400

Hilton Hotels Corp. 2,100

Leesburg Regional Medical Center 2,093

Mears Transportation Group 2,000

AirTran Airways 2,000

HCA Inc. 1,962

Bank of America Corp. 1,775

Bright House Networks 1,724

Subway Restaurants 1,600

Tempus Resorts International 1,400

Home Depot Supply (Hughes Supply Inc.) 1,332

Orlando Sentinel Communications 1,316

Progress Energy Inc. 1,300

Orange Lake Country Club and Affiliates 1,200

Hyatt Corp. 1,193

Harcourt Inc. 1,137

CNL Financial Group 1,078

Washington Mutual Inc. 1,028

HMSHost Corp. 950

Delta Air Lines Inc. 941

American Automobile Association 867

Coca-Cola Bottling Company 850

Oracle Corp. 840

Island One Resorts 819

Fiserv Inc. 800

BellSouth Corp. 500

RED is tourism or service industry related.

BLUE is health industry

Tourism/Service Industry isn't a negative quality, but the jobs don't tend to be very high-paying. Healthcare is arguably the most stable industry right now, because everybody gets sick.

[smileguy]

Here is a breakdown by industry from the same website as above:

[The Voice of Reason]

^There is a large corporate presence not reflected in this list in Seminole County, downtown, at South Park, and to a lesser degree in Osceola.

Also, I don't know why tourism is being singled out as a negative quality in Orlando's job force.

[scottb411]

Tourism is not at all a negative. it is however different than say banking or what have you. service industry jobs tend to pay far less than operations jobs. Its just the nature of the beast. Also Tourism is not usually based on the corporate center or the CBD, those jobs are based in coastal Hotels, and in far flung suburbs.

I am certainly not the end all be all judge of anything. I just, as an Orlando outsider have always heard that all orlando has is tourism jobs. Well I guess this thread is to show thw truth. to get to the bottom of it. it is an absolute fact that this is the city that mickey built, and honestly you could have a lot worse patron saints. any company that employs 70,000 and can never move is a dream employer. the fact that most busineses have grown around them is even better.

[slapdash09]

for the record, harcourt was originated in ny. and for anyone who may research bonnier, it was originally world publications and on canton in winter park before moving to wpv and being acquired by bonnier in sweden.

[JRS1]

^^

I don't understand the point of this thread other than to illustrate who CFLA's largest employers are.

As for banking firms, all I've been hearing is the tens of thousands of layoffs nationwide.

^^

Mickey didn't build this city. Martin Marrietta came here in the late 1950's early '60's around when 528, TNPK, and I-4 were built. And when the space program was started in Brevard. The NTC was here as well. The TNPK and I-4 were routed that way b/c of the efforts of CFLA politicians who lobbied Tallahassee and FDOT for the benefit of CFLA. And what were the results? They benefitted CFLA. They did what they were designed to do: bring new industry in. As a result, we have Tourism ala Disney, and a huge high tech industry ala Martin Marrietta and both have evolved independent of one another. And b/c of transportation routes, CFLA is also becoming a major Florida distribution hub.

So, I think people need to do some research to understand exactly what has transpired here and why. Disney came here as a result of local efforts directly and indirectly. Disney wouldn't have come here otherwise. Orlando is in the center of the state. When HSR is built, the first leg will involve Orlando. OIA is still Florida's busiest passenger terminal. Orlando's convention industry is No. 2 behind LV. Bottom Line: its all about geography and transportation networks. Just look at Chicago and how it developed in the 20th Century.

[OmniKnight]

Hewitt Associates should also be on this list. Don't have a reference to current numbers, but I would suspect they are in the 1-2k range. 5 years ago, I know the number was hovering around 1500.

[lala67]

Central Fla is also helped greatly, as has been pointed out above, by it's geography and proximity to the center of the state. Many architectural & engineering firms locate here b/c you can get to just about all the major population centers in the state in a few hours either way. Not so for SoFlo, Tampa/St. Pete, Naples, Tally or Jax.

As a lifelong resident of FL, born and raised in WPB, what attracted me to CenFla were the jobs and commerce. They're not just in service sectors, but in engineering, construction, high tech, finance, etc.

Downtown Orlando's CBD has around 55,000 jobs, Maitland Center follows closely behind with another 50,000 jobs or so. Not sure about Lake Mary and Heathrow, but they have significant job centers too, and then there's east Orlando with its high tech, high paying industries - simulation and defense contractors.

Many of the jobs downtown and in Maitland Center are in industries other than tourism - law, commerce, arch/engineering, construction, etc. Lots of firms with several hundred employees, lots more with less employees and everything in between.

And yeah, Disney coming here was no accident. The area is still attracting businesses b/c of its centralized location - Burnham Institute, the solar panel manufacturer, Nemours, etc.

[depechecureguyorl]

Maitland Ctr, Southpark Ctr, etc. are definitely worlds away when compared to the tourist sector. I worked in Maitland for 6 years and didn't once hear anything tourist related (I worked for a marketing firm on Maitland Ctr Pkwy). The one downside to working in those areas, tho, was how spread out and surburban everything feels. All the buildings are barely mid-rise with a max of 8 floors and the parking lots are huge. Not many parking garages at all. I'm now in Southpark Center, and the only tourist related companies in my building is Busch Entertainment. Starwood Resorts has offices in the neighboring building. It still feels very suburban tho...car culture still rules in Florida.

I think the only industry in CenFla that DIDN'T take off was the Film industry. I know Orlando is home to the Golf network, Nickelodeon once had a huge presence, but major motion pictures have yet to find their way (permanently) in CenFla. Miami & SoFla tend to be a better draw for producers...who could blame them? I would still love to see a big-budget and SUCCESSFUL movie to film entirely in CenFla...can we see a high-speed chase down I-4 on film, please??? NOTE: The only big-budget movies filmed in CenFla (fully or partially) are: Parenthood, Lethal Weapon 3, DARYL, Monster (indie, but successful), Marvin's Room, and...to some degree...Never Back Down. I know there might be more, but that's probably a different thread...

[JRS1]

Maitland Ctr, Southpark Ctr, etc. are definitely worlds away when compared to the tourist sector. I worked in Maitland for 6 years and didn't once hear anything tourist related (I worked for a marketing firm on Maitland Ctr Pkwy). The one downside to working in those areas, tho, was how spread out and surburban everything feels. All the buildings are barely mid-rise with a max of 8 floors and the parking lots are huge. Not many parking garages at all. I'm now in Southpark Center, and the only tourist related companies in my building is Busch Entertainment. Starwood Resorts has offices in the neighboring building. It still feels very suburban tho...car culture still rules in Florida.

I think the only industry in CenFla that DIDN'T take off was the Film industry. I know Orlando is home to the Golf network, Nickelodeon once had a huge presence, but major motion pictures have yet to find their way (permanently) in CenFla. Miami & SoFla tend to be a better draw for producers...who could blame them? I would still love to see a big-budget and SUCCESSFUL movie to film entirely in CenFla...can we see a high-speed chase down I-4 on film, please??? NOTE: The only big-budget movies filmed in CenFla (fully or partially) are: Parenthood, Lethal Weapon 3, DARYL, Monster (indie, but successful), Marvin's Room, and...to some degree...Never Back Down. I know there might be more, but that's probably a different thread...

[bulldogger]

I know I've done that before. I run a film industry website for Orlando.

Our area is budding with indigenous filmmaking. Some locally funded stuff is starting to get DVD distribution. Our area is only going to keep growing as filmmaking keeps getting cheaper with technological advances in video capture. Once lighting can be duplicated in a better manner with LED's, the costs will go down again. Sound is done on site with laptops. Editing is done in homes on PC's. The whole process is continually evolving.

The studio backed projects only use our area for locations. The studio system of today is not like the early days of film. Today, it is only a banking and financial system. You can't think of our area in that way and think it will happen. The studio films with their big budgets only come here with incentives now. The new film incentive for the state is 10.8MM and it takes effect July 1st. We'll see what's in the pipeline. If any studio films are planning on coming here, they have already put their applications in.

Miami only gets more films because of the reputation of their city. Right now, they have Burn Notice on USA and the lead actor just moved to the state earlier this year. They will chew up a good portion of the incentive. Either way, it's good they are staying. They could have picked up and moved to an area with a better incentive rate.

I know both areas and Orlando is year's ahead of Miami in terms of locally produced and financed films... even with more money to be had in Miami. A lot of people have learned to not rely on studio films in Orlando while Miami can't ween themselves off Hollywood's nipple. It keeps them going, but they will never be self sufficient that way. There are more filmmakers in Orlando trying their own ideas and completing projects.

[Boomer136]

I know I've done that before. I run a film industry website for Orlando.

Our area is budding with indigenous filmmaking. Some locally funded stuff is starting to get DVD distribution. Our area is only going to keep growing as filmmaking keeps getting cheaper with technological advances in video capture. Once lighting can be duplicated in a better manner with LED's, the costs will go down again. Sound is done on site with laptops. Editing is done in homes on PC's. The whole process is continually evolving.

The studio backed projects only use our area for locations. The studio system of today is not like the early days of film. Today, it is only a banking and financial system. You can't think of our area in that way and think it will happen. The studio films with their big budgets only come here with incentives now. The new film incentive for the state is 10.8MM and it takes effect July 1st. We'll see what's in the pipeline. If any studio films are planning on coming here, they have already put their applications in.

Miami only gets more films because of the reputation of their city. Right now, they have Burn Notice on USA and the lead actor just moved to the state earlier this year. They will chew up a good portion of the incentive. Either way, it's good they are staying. They could have picked up and moved to an area with a better incentive rate.

I know both areas and Orlando is year's ahead of Miami in terms of locally produced and financed films... even with more money to be had in Miami. A lot of people have learned to not rely on studio films in Orlando while Miami can't ween themselves off Hollywood's nipple. It keeps them going, but they will never be self sufficient that way. There are more filmmakers in Orlando trying their own ideas and completing projects.

[bulldogger]

Why do people keep thinking we need to be Hollywood? There is too much involved for the system to leave LA. Look up the meaning of TMZ and you will have the answer as to why.

[demon]

I'm more of a live sound guy, but I heard that the major problem of Orlando actually becoming Hollywood East was that writers didn't want to live in our hick town. Can you speak to that?