Farr car dealership becomes largest black-owned business

The Associated Press

NEW YORK -- A car dealership empire headed by former football star Mel Farr has dethroned TLC Beatrice International Holdings Inc. as the nation's largest black-owned business.

The rankings were released Monday by Black Enterprise magazine. Mel Farr Automotive Group, with sales of $596.6 million last year, became the first auto dealership to claim the title in the 27 years the magazine has measured the performance of black-owned companies. TLC Beatrice dominated the rankings through the 1990s but has been shrinking. Revenue fell to $322 million in 1998 from $1.4 billion in 1997 as TLC Beatrice sold some of its operations overseas and was left with an ice cream business in Spain and a potato chip unit in Ireland. At the same time, auto dealerships have done well because of the robust economy. Farr, whose father ran an auto dealership, shifted from the Detroit Lions backfield into the auto business and promoted his showrooms during the years by appearing in commercials as the caped Mel Farr Superstar. His business is based in Oak Park, Mich. TLC Beatrice, with headquarters in New York, dropped to fourth, based on sales. Loida Nicolas Lewis, a lawyer, became chairman of TLC Beatrice after her husband, TLC Beatrice creator Reginald Lewis, died in 1993. She has settled lawsuits filed by dissident shareholders, sold its beverage business and taken the privately held company public. The rankings appear in the June edition of Black Enterprise, which will reach newsstands on May 25. But the magazine will also make the data available starting Tuesday on its Web site, www.blackenterprise.com.

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