(File photos)
Editor’s note: This article is part of a special magazine celebrating 40 years of Arkansas Business. The full magazine is available here.
Largest Public Companies in 1984
Company |
Headquarters |
Founded |
Disposition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acxiom Corp. | Little Rock | 1983 | Went public as CCX Networks Inc.; in 2018, Acxiom Marketing Solutions business unit was sold for $2.3 billion to the Interpublic Group of Cos. Inc. of New York and the remaining company, renamed LiveRamp Holdings Inc., relocated to San Francisco. |
| Alltel Corp. | Little Rock | 1968 | Started as Allied Telephone Co., became Alltel with merger of Mid-continent Telephone Corp. in 1983, bought by Atlantis Holding in 2007, sold to Verizon in 2009. |
| Arkansas Best Corp. (now ArcBest Corp.) | Fort Smith | 1972 | Taken private in 1988 and then taken public again in 1992. |
| Arkansas Louisiana Gas Co. | Little Rock | 1952 | Bought by NorAm Energy Corp. in 1994, which merged with Houston Industries Inc. in 1997; changed name to Reliant Energy in 1999 and renamed Centerpoint Energy in 2001; sold to Summit Utilities in 2022. |
| Baldor Electric Co. | Fort Smith | 1984 | Sold to ABB Ltd. of Zurich for $4.1 billion in 2010. |
| Beverly Enterprises Inc. (now Golden Living) | Fort Smith | 1966 | Sold to Fillmore Capital Partners in 2006 and renamed Golden Living. |
| Castle Industries of Arkansas Inc. | Conway | 1971 | Declared bankruptcy in 1988. |
| Champion Parts Inc. | Hope | 1962 | Filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2008; assets sold to Cash Technologies of Los Angeles. |
| Dillard Department Stores Inc. (now Dillard’s Inc.) | Little Rock | 1969 | |
| Ensco Inc. | Little Rock | 1983 | Sold to Brambles USA Inc. of Norcross, Georgia, in 1992. |
| Fairfield Communities Inc. | Little Rock | 1969 | Moved headquarters to Florida; sold to Cendan Corp. in 2000. |
| First Arkansas Bankstock Corp. | Little Rock | 1951 | Holding company of Worthen Bank & Trust Co. in 1984, bought by Boatmen’s in 1994, then NationsBank in 1996; became Bank of America in 1998. |
| FirstSouth Corp. | Pine Bluff | 1983 | Declared insolvent and closed by federal regulators in 1986. |
| First Commercial Corp. | Little Rock | 1983 | Acquired by Regions Financial Corp. of Birmingham, Alabama, in 1998. |
| First United Bancshares Inc. (now Cadence Bank) | El Dorado | 1984 | Acquired in 2000 by BancorpSouth Corp. of Tupelo, Mississippi (now Cadence Bank). |
| J.B Hunt Transport Services Inc. | Lowell | 1983 | |
| Mid-America Industries Inc. | Fort Smith | 1973 (or earlier) | Bought by GKN PLC of Great Britain for $15.7 million in 1988. |
| Murphy Oil Corp. | El Dorado | 1956 | Moved headquarters to Houston in 2020. |
| Savers Inc. | Little Rock | 1983 | Declared insolvent and closed by federal regulators in 1989. |
| Southwestern Energy Co. | Fayetteville | 1960 | Moved headquarters to Houston in 2001. |
| Systematics Inc. | Little Rock | 1981 | Bought by Alltel in 1990, sold to Fidelity National Financial in 2003. |
| CBY Enterprises Inc. | Little Rock | 1984 | Sold to Capricorn Management Inc. in 2000. |
| Tyson Foods Inc. | Springdale | 1986 | |
| Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (now Walmart Inc.) | Bentonville | 1972 |
Largest Public Companies in 2024
Company |
Headquarters |
Founded |
Disposition |
|---|---|---|---|
| America’s Car-Mart Inc. | Rogers | 2002 | |
| ArcBest Corp. | Fort Smith | 1992 | |
| Bank OZK | Little Rock | 1997 | |
| BSR Real Estate Investment Trust | Little Rock | 2018 | Traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange. |
| Dillard’s Inc. | Little Rock | 1969 | |
| Envirotech Vehicles Inc. | Osceola | 2017 | Founded in California as Adomani Inc., changed its name in 2021 and relocated to Osceola in 2022. |
| Home BancShares Inc. | Conway | 2006 | |
| Inuvo Inc. | Little Rock | 1998 | Founded in New York; moved to Arkansas in 2013. |
| J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. | Lowell | 1983 | |
| Montrose Environmental Group Inc. | North Little Rock | 2020 | Founded in California; moved to North Little Rock after purchase of CTEH in 2020. |
| Murphy USA Inc. | El Dorado | 2013 | Retail fuel operation spun off of Murphy Oil Corp. |
| P.A.M. Transport Inc. | Tontitown | 1986 | |
| Simmons First National Corp. | Pine Bluff | 1985 | |
| Tyson Foods Inc. | Springdale | 1986 | |
| Uniti Group Inc. | Little Rock | 2015 | Real estate investment trust, originally called Communications Sales & Leasing Inc., spun off by Windstream Holdings Inc. |
| Walmart Inc. | Bentonville | 1972 | |
| Westrock Coffee Co. | Little Rock | 2022 | Taken public through merger with Riverview Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company that began trading in 2021. |
| White River Bancshares | Fayetteville | 2019 |
In Between
A dizzying array of publicly traded companies have come and gone in the past four decades. Only five of 24 on the 1984 list are still publicly traded companies headquartered in Arkansas.
Company |
Headquarters |
Founded |
Disposition |
|---|---|---|---|
| AERT Inc. | Springdale | 1989 | Bought for $117 million by Oldcastle, the U.S. subsidiary of CRH PLC of Dublin, in 2017. |
| American Freightways Inc. | Harrison | 1989 | Bought by FedEx Corp. in 2000 and renamed FedEx Freight. |
| Ammonia Hold Inc. | Lonoke | 1997 | Merged in 2001 with TransAtlantic Surety & Bond Co., which sold it back to original owner Michael Parnell in 2002. |
| Brass Eagle Inc. | Rogers | 1997 | Sold to K2 inc. of California in 2003. |
| Builders Warehouse Association Inc. | Conway | 1992 | Stock bought by Osicom Technologies Inc. of Santa Monica, California, in 1996. |
| Cannon Express Inc. | Springdale | 1987 | Voluntarily delisted and filed for bankruptcy in 2003. |
| Castle Industries of Arkansas Inc. | Conway | 1971 | Went bankrupt in 1988. |
| Delta Systems Inc. | Rogers | 2000 | Went bankrupt in 2007, sold to Illapak SA of Lugano, Switzerland, and renamed Delta Systems & Automation Inc. |
| Deltic Timber Corp. | El Dorado | 1996 | Spinoff of Murphy Oil Corp. acquired by Potlatch Corp. of Spokane, Washington, in 2018; renamed PotlatchDeltic Corp. |
| Edgewater Technologies Inc. | Fayetteville | 2000 | The remains of Staffmark (see below) after Stephens Inc. bought the staffing division; moved to Massachusetts in 2001. |
| Equity Media Holding Corp. | Little Rock | 2007 | Filed for bankruptcy in 2008; delisted in 2009. |
| First Federal Bancshares of Arkansas Inc. | Harrison | 1996 | Reorganized as Bear State Financial Inc. in 2014; acquired by Arvest Bank for $391 million in 2017. |
| First Federal Savings of Arkansas | Little Rock | 1988 | Declared insolvent and closed by federal regulators in 1989. |
| Forrest City Financial Corp. | Forrest City | 1994 | Delisted and taken private in 1998; now Armor Bank. |
| HCB Banchares Inc. | Camden | 1997 | Taken private and moved to Bryant in 2004; Simmons Bank absorbed subsidiary Heartland Bank in 2017 after a loan default, and three branches were sold to Relyance Bank of Pine Bluff. |
| Hudson Foods Inc. | Rogers | 1986 | Bought by Tyson Foods in 1998 after one of the nation’s biggest meat recalls to date. |
| Loislaw Inc. | Van Buren | 1999 | Sold to Dutch publisher Wolters Kluwer NV in 2001. |
| Mass Merchandisers Inc. | Harrison | 1970 | Sold for $100 million to McKesson Corp. in 1985. |
| Minute Man Inc. | Little Rock | 1968 | Stock plummeted in the late 1970s and franchises were sold off. |
| National Home Centers Inc. | Springdale | 1993 | Went private in 2002; declared bankruptcy in 2009 and assets sold for $15 million to Stock Building Supply Holdings LLC of Raleigh, North Carolina. |
| North American Hitech Group Inc. | East Camden | Could not determine. | |
| North Arkansas Bancshares Inc. | Newport | 1997 | Holding company for Newport Savings & Loan bought by Pocahontas Bancorp in 2001. |
| Pet Quarters Inc. | Sherwood | 1998 | Originally headquartered in Lonoke; went bankrupt, delisted and disappeared in 2004. |
| Pocahontas Bancorp Inc. | Jonesboro | 1994 | Originally headquartered in Pocahontas; bought in 2006 by IberiaBank Corp. of Lafayette, Louisiana (now First Horizon Corp. of Memphis). |
| Professional Dental Technologies Inc. | Batesville | 1986 | Went private in 1999 and sold to Zila Inc. of Phoenix in 2006. |
| Ram Venture Holdings | Little Rock | 2004 | American Apparel & Accessories Inc. of Little Rock used a reverse merger with Ram Venture to go public and took the Ram venture name; filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2006. |
| StaffMark Inc. | Fayetteville | 1996 | Staffing services unit bought and taken private by Stephens Inc. in 2000. |
| Superior Financial Corp. | Fort Smith | 1999 | Acquired by Arvest Holdings Inc. in 2003. |
| Texarkana First Financial Corp. | Texarkana | 1995 | Bought by First United Bancshares of El Dorado in 2000. |
| ThermoEnergy Corp. | Little Rock | 1992 | Relocated headquarters to Worcester, Massachusetts, in 2011. |
| Treadco Inc. | Fort Smith | 1991 | Spun off by Arkansas Best (now ArcBest), then bought back and sold to Goodyear in 2003. |
| USA Truck Inc. | Fort Smith | 1992 | Acquired by German logistics giant DB Schenker for $435 million in 2022. |
| WellQuest Medical & Wellness Corp. | Bentonville | 2009 | Delisted in 2010. |
| Windstream Corp. | Little Rock | 2005 | Spun off by Alltel Corp. in 2005, entered bankruptcy in 2019 and emerged as a private company in 2020. |
Sign up for Daily E-news
![Curtis Barnett is the president and CEO of Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield. He’s navigating a funding crisis in the health care and insurance industries. [Karen E. Segrave]](https://arkansasbusiness.wppcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/ARBusiness-Curtiss-Barnett-0040_opt-150x150.jpg)
![Walmart’s 4,700 U.S. stores put it in a prominent postion to make the most of omnichannel advertising opportunities. [PHOTO provided]](https://arkansasbusiness.wppcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/walmart-connect-associate-customer_opt-150x150.jpg)
![MCC President Hex Bisbee has been with the company he now co-owns since 1999. [Michael Woods]](https://arkansasbusiness.wppcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/DSC_0490_opt-e1747605395154-150x150.jpg)
