CBIZ Grows 52%. Then Growth Stalls, Stock Falls, GT Moves In.
By CPA Trendlines Research
Marcum made CBIZ bigger almost overnight. It also quadrupled the debt, more than tripled interest expense, and left executives figuring their best option was Grant Thornton’s $5-billion buyout offer.
MORE Special Report on the CBIZ-Grant Thornton Deal:
Fatal Attraction: How the Marcum Deal Set Up CBIZ for the Grant Thornton Takeover
Grant Thornton Flexes PE Muscle in CBIZ Deal
CBIZ: Spanning 2 Rollup Eras in 2 Centuries
$55 a Share: Who Won, Who Lost in CBIZ’s 29-Year Rollup
CPA PE Deal Tracker™: The Consolidator Gets Consolidated
COMING NEXT: Was CBIZ CEO Jerry Grisko Worth It? Start With the Stock
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CBIZ entered 2026 looking like one of accounting’s great consolidators. Revenue had risen 52.1% in 2025 to $2.758 billion, and net income had increased 181.3% to $115.4 million.
And yet, by July 28, the company is ready to take $55 per share, better than the $46.70 the day before, but less than the $88.65 peak last year.
Ryan Bunn, the activist shareholder at Reference Equity, which had been pressing the company since mid-June to raise equity and keep buying firms, says the decision “feels like capitulation.”
The arithmetic underneath the growth may help explain why.
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