COVID-19, as expected, affected the overall performance of Chicago’s largest publicly traded companies in 2020.
On average, the 136 companies on the list saw revenue fall by 1.9 percent in 2020. By comparison, the companies on last year’s list saw revenue rise by an average of 5.7 percent in 2019.
Likewise, employment at companies on the list fell by 4.1 percent during 2020, compared to a 2.1 percent increase on last year’s list.
Predictably, the two companies that saw the largest revenue declines are in travel and hospitality—United Airlines fell from No. 6 to No. 17 with a 64.5 percent revenue decrease, and Hyatt Hotels dropped from No. 42 to No. 64 with a 58.8 percent decrease.
Additionally, Boeing lost its recurrent No. 2 spot, dropping down to No. 3 with a 24 percent decline in revenue. Boeing’s revenues began declining before the pandemic: This comes after a 24.3 percent drop from 2018 to 2019.
There were nine newcomers on the list, three of which saw the greatest increase in revenue from 2019. Rush Street Interactive, which operates online gaming and casino sites, saw a whopping 337.4 percent increase. GoHealth and Oak Street Health grew 62.6 and 58.6 percent, respectively. Of the remaining newcomers, Azek, GCM Grosvenor, Whole Earth Brands and Kingsway Financial Services also saw their revenues grow, while those of Pactiv Evergreen and Surgalign Holdings declined.
Despite increased unemployment in the economy during 2020, employment at AbbVie and FreightCar America grew by 56.7 and 34.9 percent, respectively. Pharmaceutical company Assertio Holdings, however, saw a decrease in employment of 78.4 percent. Assertio announced a restructuring plan to take effect in December 2020 to reduce costs by $45 million; it expects to recognize $8 million to $10 million in severance charges.
The 136 companies on this year’s Chicago’s Largest Publicly Traded Companies list each had revenue of at least $50 million in 2020. The list—built with data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence—also includes net income, profit margin, market capitalization and full-time-equivalent employee totals, and some data points include percentage changes from the prior year. The complete list in Excel is available exclusively to Crain’s Data Members and is available in our Data Center.