Hoffmann co-CEO on the art of buying 10 business in 8 months

Geoff Hoffmann has an unabashedly simple philosophy to the complicated world of buying businesses: "It's critical that all businesses have a pathway to growth."

By Mark Gordon
| 5:00 a.m. September 18, 2024
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Geoff Hoffmann, seen here at a conference in Las Vegas, was named co-CEO of the family-run conglomerate in 2022.

Charlotte–Lee–Collier

The M&A machine at the Hoffmann Family of Cos. has been running full-blast, with at least 10 acquisitions in the first eight months of 2024.

The family-run conglomerate now has more than 100 global brands and employs 11,000 people with businesses in 30 countries and 400 locations worldwide. That includes 40 business in Southwest Florida with at least 2,000 employees, entities such as Hertz Arena, Naples Princess Cruises and The Old Collier Golf Club. Its founder and chairman, David Hoffmann, lives in Naples with his wife, Jerri Hoffmann. The couple, since moving to town in 2016, have become prominent philanthropists, with causes from the Boys and Girls Club of Collier County to Everglades Foundation, and, according to previous interviews, have invested some $500 million into Southwest Florida businesses and properties. Known as HF Companies, the business maintains an office on Fifth Avenue South in Naples.

In 2022 Hoffmann named his two sons, Geoff and Greg, co-CEOs. Geoff lives in the Chicago area, where the company recently bought a dairy and ice cream business out of bankruptcy. Greg lives in the St. Louis area; David Hoffmann was born in Missouri, and the company has a large portfolio of businesses in the Show Me State.