The Kane Co., which operates the Washington, D.C., area’s largest office moving company and related ventures, “abruptly” went out of business in early December, affecting about 1,000 employees,
the
Washington Business Journal
reported.
In March, the Kane Co. received a Family Owned Business Award from the
Washington Business Journal
. “At the time, [second-generation CEO John] Kane said he hoped to pass the company on to his children,” the journal article said.
The Kane Co.’s flagship business, Office Movers Inc. of Lanham, Md., had 520 employees and generated revenues of $58.1 million in 2015. The other Kane companies being closed are Tech Services, Library Relocation, eCyclers, Kane 3PL, Kane Hospitality Services, Kane Distribution Services, Kane Staffing Services and Kane Freight Services.
Two other companies, Office Archives and Office Shredding, will stay open and “will be sold in separate transactions to unknown buyers,” the
Washington Business Journal
report said.
Office Movers “has moved some of the most high-profile clients in Washington, including the U.S. Senate, the FBI and the Pentagon,”
a
Washington Post
article said.
“The news comes as a surprise for a business that managed to turn a modest profit in the difficult years after the recession without significant layoffs,” the
Post
report said. Kane cut his own salary by 20% to help keep the company afloat during that time, according to the
Post
.
Kane told the
Washington Business Journal
that the closing was due to “an unforeseen ‘squeeze play’ that left his company cash poor.” Kane referred to it as an “orderly wind down” and “not a bankruptcy.”
Kane told the business journal that the company, based in Elkridge, Md., was scheduled to vacate two leased warehouses and move into two new buildings in the fourth quarter of 2015. Delays arose in the availability of both new buildings, the article said. “Instead of temporarily renewing in its existing buildings for as long as a year, Kane said, the company spent $2 million of unbudgeted funds to rent and retrofit 200,000 square feet of temporary warehouse space,” the journal reported.
Kane’s father, Eugene Kane, founded the company in 1969. John Kane, who started at the company at age 12, became president in 1991 and bought the company from his father in 1998, the journal article said.
John Kane is the former chairman of the Maryland Republican Party; his wife, Mary, ran unsuccessfully for Maryland lieutenant governor in 2010.
“The Kane Co.’s collapse has no impact on either Kane Construction Co., owned by Kane’s brother Dennis, or Kane International Limousine Service Inc., owned by Kane’s brother Richard,” the
Washington Business Journal
article said. (Sources:
Washington Business Journal
, Dec. 8, 2016;
Washington Post
, Dec. 8, 2016.)
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