Northeast Ohio accounting and advisory company CBIZ is headed for new ownership. Grant Thornton plans to acquire the Cleveland-area firm in a deal valued at nearly $3 billion, putting a familiar local corporate name inside a much larger expansion push.
The proposed transaction was reported Wednesday by Crain's Cleveland Business. CBIZ is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CBZ, and the agreement would shift control of a company that has grown into one of the region's biggest professional-services employers.
CBIZ lists its headquarters at 5959 Rockside Woods Boulevard North in Independence and says it has more than 9,500 team members across more than 140 locations and 23 major markets. Its services include accounting, tax, advisory work, benefits, insurance and technology, according to CBIZ investor materials.
Deal Follows CBIZ's Massive Marcum Expansion
The sale comes less than two years after CBIZ completed the biggest acquisition in its history. The company closed its purchase of Marcum's non-attest business on November 1, 2024, in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at approximately $2.3 billion, according to CBIZ's announcement.
That deal was expected to give CBIZ roughly $2.8 billion in annualized revenue and make it the largest full-service professional-services advisor of its kind in the United States. The Marcum transaction also pushed CBIZ deeper into a national accounting market where scale, specialized talent and cross-selling have become central to growth.
Grant Thornton Has Been Expanding Beyond Its Traditional Footprint
Grant Thornton's U.S. platform has been reshaped since New Mountain Capital made a growth investment in the firm in 2024. Under its alternative practice structure, Grant Thornton LLP handles audit and assurance while Grant Thornton Advisors provides non-attest services such as tax and advisory work, Grant Thornton said.
The firm has since pursued a string of acquisitions and international combinations. Grant Thornton recently said its aligned platform included nearly 25,000 professionals across 18 firms and more than 150 offices, while a separate acquisition of Denver-based MCA Connect expanded its technology and artificial-intelligence consulting capabilities, according to Grant Thornton.
That makes CBIZ a substantially larger addition than the specialized advisory firms Grant Thornton has recently been collecting. In practical terms, the deal would combine a fast-growing national accounting and business-services company with a Grant Thornton platform already being built for broader advisory, tax and technology reach.
What The Deal Means For Northeast Ohio
For the Cleveland region, the immediate significance is less about a new office opening than about who will control a major headquarters operation in Independence. The initial reporting does not identify immediate changes to CBIZ's local headquarters, staffing or client operations, leaving those questions to the companies' integration plans and regulatory process.
CBIZ's local identity has remained closely tied to the Rockside corridor even as its business expanded nationally through acquisitions. Now, after building a much larger platform through Marcum, the company is itself becoming the target of an even larger professional-services consolidation.
