Daily Record Financial News &
Monday, February 22, 2016
Vol. 103, No. 071 • Two Sections
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Waiting for right time for new job
Attorney John Miller of Rock Solid Business Law earned the 2016 JAX Chamber Small Business Leader of the Year distinction.
Photo by David Chapman
Jay reaches goal of appellate spot
Small business, big stage Miller enjoys practicing law, playing music to his own beat
John Miller doesn’t categorize himself as an old-school attorney. He doesn’t wear the typical suit — he’s OK with a shirt and tie. He’s not in a Downtown office building, instead preferring his native beach and winds that gently blow outside his open windows. He’s dedicated to the law and helping people, but is just as passionate about his nearly 30-year-old local band that continues to jam. He might not be an old-school attorney. Or one even in a big firm. But’s he’s been a success — he recently was honored as the 2016 JAX Chamber Small Business Leader of the Year. “It’s cool to work this long and have people genuinely happy when you get an accolade like this,” he said. It’s an accolade he garnered by doing things his own way for quite some time.
Miller grew up the son of a Presbyterian preacher father, moving around the Southeast every several years when the job demanded. When his father graduated from seminary, he headed with the family to Alabama during in the early 1960s, a period of heightened racial tension. His father wasn’t always the most popular guy in town. He was hated by the Ku Klux Klan, Miller said, for acts that included providing communion to black people in Tuskegee, Ala. At times, white people chose to walk across the street instead of passing by him. As Presbyterian ministers did, it wasn’t long before it was time to again move. Miller said at the time he didn’t like the constant packing up and shuffling on. It meant constantly having to make new friends. Miller
continued on
Page A-11
Special to the Daily Record
Choosing his own path
By David Chapman Staff Writer
By Marilyn Young Editor Sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know. That was the case for Harvey Jay III when he applied for a spot on the 1st District Court of Appeal three times starting in the mid-2000s. Jay was a successful trial lawyer at the time, doing mostly medical malpractice defense work. He loves the law, just like his revered grandfather — Harvey Jay Sr. — who practiced in South Georgia. And the younger Jay deeply enjoys research and writing. Jay knew he wanted to an appellate court judge. The court’s Judicial Nominating Commission members knew Jay Jay wasn’t ready. “Harvey, you’re a trial lawyer,” they told him. “You need to apply for the circuit court.” A decade later, as Jay prepares to join the appellate court next month, he admits he wasn’t ready earlier. But knows he is now. Jay followed the commission’s advice and got some time as a 4th Judicial Circuit judge under his belt after being appointed in October 2011. Two or three members of the appellate JNC from his earlier attempts were on the Jay continued on Page A-10
Miller with his daughter, Avalon, at a recent BayStreet gig. He gives much credit to his wife of 14 years, Krista, for helping his business and family become so successful.
Page
A-3
ADT agrees to $6.9 billion buyout by Apollo
A little more than three years after becoming an independent public company, ADT Corp. agreed to a buyout last week. Funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management LLC agreed to buy the home and business security company for $42 a share, a total of about $6.9 billion. Once the deal is completed, expected by midyear, ADT will merge with Protection 1, another security company owned by Apollo. The company will continue to operate under the ADT brand and keep ADT’s headquarters in Boca Raton. ADT employs a total of about
Public
17,000 people at 200 locations, with Jacksonville one of its most significant operations centers with about 2,000 employees. ADT said the $42 cash price represents a 56 percent increase from its stock price before the Tuesday morning announcement, which sounds good. However, ADT’s stock had fallen significantly in the past year. ADT was spun off from Tyco International Ltd. in October 2012, with Tyco distributing ADT shares to its stockholders. ADT’s stock opened at $37.18 when it began trading after the spinoff. The stock was trading above
legal notices begin on page
B-2
$42 as recently as April, but it has faltered since and dropped to a record low of $24.22 early this month. “The timing of ADT’s announcement was perhaps surprising in how quickly it emerged following the poor reception of the company’s first-quarter earnings less than two weeks ago. But we believe the poor recep-
tion played an important role in the emergence of Apollo’s offer,” William Blair analyst Nicholas Heymann said in a research report. “The recent weakness in ADT’s share price after its first-quarter earnings likely further opened the door for ADT to be acquired,” he said. ADT’s agreement with Apollo includes a “go-shop” provision in which ADT could solicit higher offers for 40 days. That could happen, according to Heymann’s analysis of ADT’s value. “Besides private equity, other potential owners could still find
Published
for
26,871
significant value creation potential at prices above the $42-pershare acquisition offer,” he said.
Analysts differ on Web.com deal
Two analysts offered very different views on Web.com Group Inc.’s agreement to buy digital marketing company Yodle. Following Jacksonville-based Web.com’s Feb. 11 announcement of the deal, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey analyst Matthew Thornton upgraded his rating on the company’s stock from Basch continued on Page A-7
consecutive weekdays