Financial-Software Affiliate of Fidelity National Tops List with 5,730% Growth
Santa Ana-based Micro General Corp. tops the Orange County Business Journal’s list of the fastest growing companies by revenue over the past three years.
Once a company that made postage meters, it recorded $1.7 million in revenue for the 12-month period ended June 30, 1997, and $100.8 million in revenue for the 12-month period ended June 30, 2000. That’s a 5,730% gain.
The catalyst has been Chairman Bill Foley, widely known for also being chairman of both Irvine-based Fidelity National Financial Inc. and Anaheim-based CKE Restaurants Inc.
Foley acquired Micro General through a reverse merger with Fidelity’s technology unit, ACS Systems. Fidelity now owns more than two-thirds of the shares of Micro General. Fidelity then began outsourcing much of its technology work to Micro General.
But the biggest boost to Micro General’s revenue was its 1998 acquisition of telecommunications firm LD Exchange, which has generated about two-thirds of the company’s sales since then. However, that unit hasn’t been as profitable as expected and Micro General this year announced plans to sell it.
Now, Micro General is focusing on the Internet.
“We are clearly Bill Foley’s Internet strategy,” John Snedegar, Micro General’s chief executive, said in an interview earlier this year.
Micro General created Escrow.com, which attracted $30 million in funding this year from, among others, Softbank Corp. and Hong Kong’s Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd.
They announced another planned spin-off, TXMNet, that will offer online real estate settlement products and services designed to handle transactions over the Internet. And Micro General also plans to spin off a unit that collects Internet sales taxes for government entities.
Snedegar said that although the company will lose its revenue from LD Exchange, he’s optimistic that Micro General’s top line will rebound quickly.
One reason is Fidelity’s acquisition this year of Chicago Title Corp. That doubled Fidelity’s size, making it the largest title insurance company in the nation. And that also resulted in a new revenue stream for Micro General. n
