As Dream Finders Homes Inc.’s stock fell to three-year lows recently, Forbes magazine’s annual billionaires list showed a significant drop in CEO Patrick Zalupski’s net worth.
However, Forbes is likely undervaluing Zalupski after he led a group that purchased the Tampa Bay Rays major league baseball team in October.
Zalupski ranked 3,185th on Forbes’ list of 3,428 billionaires in the world, released March 10, with an estimated net worth of $1.1 billion, down from $1.5 billion last year.
Most of his net worth came from his controlling stake in Jacksonville-based homebuilder Dream Finders.
Zalupski controls more than 59 million Dream Finders shares, which were worth more than $1.8 billion when the stock reached its 2025 high of $31.50 in September.
However, the stock had fallen to $15.71 when the Forbes list was released, dropping his Dream Finders’ stake below $1 billion.
But Zalupski’s interest in the Rays may also be near $1 billion.
CNBC released its annual list of valuations March 13 of major league teams and said the Rays are worth $1.7 billion, because that’s how much Zalupski’s group paid for it.
The Rays ranked 24th in value among the 30 teams and its estimated $287 million in annual revenue ranked 29th, but the valuation after the sale was 21% higher than CNBC estimated in 2025.
There is a prestige value in owning a major league sports franchise that inflates their values well above their earnings power.
CNBC estimates the Rays’ earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization at $27 million last year, so its value is 63 times its EBITDA.
Dream Finders reported EBITDA of $494 million in 2025. With a total market capitalization of $1.44 billion as of March 10, its value was less than three times its EBITDA.
Zalupski’s ownership stake in the Rays was not disclosed when his group bought the team but Dream Finders’ annual report cites him as majority owner of the team.
Zalupski said after buying the team he expected it to help Dream Finders grow its business in the Tampa market. The company announced a marketing partnership March 14 that makes Dream Finders the official homebuilder of the Rays.
As part of the partnership, Tropicana Field, the Rays’ home ballpark in St. Petersburg, will have a “Dream Finders Homes Terrace” down the left field line.
Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan’s wealth continues growing, according to the Forbes list.
The magazine estimated Khan’s net worth at $15 billion, up from $13.4 billion a year ago and up from $14.3 billion when Forbes released its list of 400 richest Americans in September.
Khan does not own any large stakes in public companies that have been disclosed. His wealth was built from his auto parts company Flex-N-Gate Corp. and his ownership of the Jaguars and British Premier League soccer team Fulham.
Khan ranked 193rd on the Forbes list of billionaires around the world and ranked 19th on the magazine’s list of richest sports team owners published March 13.
Wayne Weaver, who sold his majority interest in the Jaguars to Khan in 2012, ranks 2,858th on the billionaires list with an estimated net worth of $1.3 billion, up $100 million from 2025.
Weaver’s main holding now is a controlling stake in footwear chain Shoe Carnival Inc.
Bill Foley, chairman of Jacksonville-based Fidelity National Financial Inc., ranks 1,611th with an estimated net worth of $2.6 billion, but that’s down from $2.8 billion in 2025.
Foley holds stakes in numerous public companies and is also owner of the Vegas Golden Knights NHL hockey team.
Cadre Holdings Inc. reported lower sales and earnings for the fourth quarter but expects growth in 2026 after two recent acquisitions and potentially more deals this year.
Jacksonville-based Cadre’s revenue in the quarter fell 5% to $167.2 million and earnings fell 10% to $11.7 million, or 27 cents per share.
The company said sales were lower than the previous year because its shipments were higher than normal in the fourth quarter of 2024 after a cyber incident disrupted operations in the third quarter.
Cadre makes safety products for law enforcement and first responders and expanded its nuclear safety products business in April 2025 with the acquisition of two subsidiaries from England-based Carr’s Group PLC.
The company completed the acquisition of TYR Tactical LLC in January, which will expand its tactical gear business.
With the acquisitions, Cadre is projecting sales of $736 million to $758 million this year, up from $610.3 million in 2025, and could add more acquisitions this year.
“When it comes to M&A, we are actively evaluating a robust funnel of high-quality strategically aligned businesses to add to our portfolio,” President Brad Williams said in a March 11 conference call with analysts.
Williams said demand is strong in the company’s existing businesses.
“On the law enforcement side, we see rising safety threats globally coupled with resilient and growing spend on production equipment. There is bipartisan commitment to public safety in the U.S. and across Europe, supported by growing defense budgets,” he said.
“On the nuclear safety side, long-term demand is tied to policy and commercial tailwinds across our three market segments: environmental management, national security and nuclear energy.”
A week before the earnings report, Cadre’s stock jumped to a record high after the company was touted in a story by Barron’s financial newspaper.
“In war or in peace, Cadre looks like a good bet for further gains in 2026 and beyond,” the story said.
That sent the stock up as much as $3.31 to $48.76 March 5 but the stock quickly fell back.
It fell $5.48 to $35.21 March 11 after the earnings report.
The Fortegra Group increased revenue by 2% to $2.01 billion and earnings by 4% to $85.3 million in 2025, according to majority owner Tiptree Inc.’s annual report.
Tiptree agreed in September to sell Fortegra, a Jacksonville-based specialty insurance company, to South Korea-based DB Insurance Co. Ltd. for $1.65 billion.
The companies have said Fortegra will continue to operate independently as part of DB’s specialty insurance business when the sale is completed, which is expected in mid-2026.
Fortegra is the main operating business of Connecticut-based holding company Tiptree, which is seeking to use the proceeds from the sale for new investments.
Tiptree now lists Fortegra as a discontinued operation in its financial reports and without that business, Tiptree reported revenue of just $488,000 for 2025.
After initiating coverage of Jacksonville-based space and defense technology company Redwire Corp. with a “hold” rating in June 2025, Truist Securities analyst Michael Ciarmoli is more optimistic, upgrading it to “buy” March 9.
“The improving mix and progress on programs, about 33% now in full rate production, and further progression on development programs, gives us more confidence that EAC charges should potentially moderate in the coming periods,” Ciarmoli said in his research note.
EAC charges are estimated at completion costs that have affected Redwire’s results.
“We also believe newly appointed CFO Chris Edmunds has to an extent set low and achievable expectations for 2026, and we see Golden Dome awards still being a catalyst for further backlog growth,” Ciarmoli said.
Golden Dome awards are contracts awarded by the U.S. Space Force and Missile Defense Agency to defense firms.
Edmunds was promoted from senior vice president and chief accounting officer to chief financial officer in December.
Redwire projected lofty revenue growth before going public in September 2021 and with its actual results falling well below those early forecasts, its stock has suffered.
Ciarmoli said the company has increased transparency since Edmunds was promoted.
“As the company works to balance their portfolio risk and set expectations with the Street, we believe management has adopted a more conservative guidance philosophy,” he said.
Ciarmoli increased his price target from $13 to $15 for the stock, which was trading at $8.55 before his upgrade.
Redwire rose $1.10 to $9.65 March 9 after the upgrade.
Johnson & Johnson announced March 12 it received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for a new product for use in cataract surgery.
The extended depth of focus intraocular lens called Tecnis PureSee IOL improves vision for patients undergoing cataract surgery, the company said in a news release.
Jacksonville-based Johnson & Johnson Vision has been making contact lenses in Jacksonville for more than 40 years and it expanded into surgical vision products with acquisitions beginning in 2016.
Contact lens sales grew 3.6% to $3.9 billion in 2025 while surgical vision products, which are made outside of Jacksonville, grew 9.9% to $1.6 billion.
When Johnson & Johnson reported earnings in January, company officials said the expected launch of PureSee in the U.S. later this year would create more growth for the surgical vision business.
“We’re confident that our Surgical Vision business can continue to be a strong double-digit grower for the foreseeable future,” said Tim Schmid, worldwide chairman of the company’s MedTech division, in a conference call.