Smyrna firm’s shutdown idles 400
A Cobb County company’s recent bankruptcy eliminated the jobs of nearly 400 people — about 100 of them in metro Atlanta — while also delaying registration renewal reminders for thousands of auto owners.
World Marketing, which had a contract to print and mail renewal reminders in Cobb and four other counties, is in the process of shutting down, according to Tyrone Jeffcoat, the firm’s president and chief operating officer.
“The (bankruptcy) filing … is the first step in what will likely be the end of the company,” Jeffcoat said in a statement.
The company had been purchased by a Milwaukee investor from Berkshire Hathaway about a year ago. It is also closing offices in Chicago, Dallas and Atlanta.
Workers let go may still recoup the pay they are owed, but that will be part of the bankruptcy process.
State officials send reminders to vehicle owners about renewal as their birthdays approach. World Marketing handled printing and mailing in Cobb, as well as Gwinnett, DeKalb, Hall and Henry counties.
Reminders for those with October birthdays were delayed — in some cases beyond the birthday — by the shutdown of World Marketing. State officials said the work has been shifted to a new vendor.
The delayed notices offer no excuse for vehicle owners, though, as they are not legally required.
Lynn Gregory, who has been selling mailing equipment parts to World Marketing since the 1960s, said the company owes him about $2,000.
He said he’s worried about employees and other service providers who were left unpaid by the abrupt closing.
“It was handled as poorly as it could be handled. The company knew it had cash flow issues,” said Gregory. “There were people that had been working there since the 1960s.”
The Milwaukee Business Journal reported that the bankruptcies come less than a year after Milwaukee investors bought the company from Berkshire Hathaway, the firm headed by billionaire investor Warren Buffett.
