A Family of Businesses: The Many Ways We Play with Purpose

At Cox, we play with purpose by showing up where it matters — building and investing in businesses that strengthen the essentials people rely on every day.  

We’re keeping vehicles moving. Growing fresh, flavorful food that feeds a growing population. Telling real stories that matter to real people and connecting communities and businesses to each other. Making government systems work better behind the scenes. Building a circular economy that keeps plastics out of landfills and finding ways to protect and restore the outdoors, preserving the unique relationship between people and planet.  

Across industries, across communities and across challenges, each of our businesses plays a part in something bigger.  

Together, they form a family of businesses grounded in impact, connected by purpose and driven by the belief that the way you play matters as much as the results.  

At Cox, we widen the field, one business at a time. 

Playing on the move with Cox Automotive

The auto and transportation industries are changing fast. Electric vehicles, ridesharing and new types of commercial fleets are on the rise. Shopper expectations are evolving, and dealerships are navigating an ever-shifting landscape that demands new tools and technology to keep pace. 

At Cox Automotive, we’re driving smarter ways for automakers, dealers, retailers, lenders, fleet owners and car shoppers to navigate the full vehicle lifecycle. We’re reshaping what it means to buy, sell, own and use a car, and helping the industry move forward with confidence.

We’re also making every aspect of dealership life simpler, providing specialized support for businesses that rely on fleets and helping advance the shift to electrification, including maintaining and recycling EV batteries.

All of this is powered by unmatched first-party data and advanced technology. As the world’s largest automotive services and technology provider, Cox Automotive powers 2.3 billion online interactions each year, helping customers make more confident decisions, operate more efficiently and stay ahead in a rapidly evolving industry. 

Playing fresh with Cox Farms 

Much of the produce Americans buy is shipped hundreds or even thousands of miles away. That distance from farm to store can mean less freshness and more strain on a supply chain concentrated in a handful of overburdened growing regions. Add unpredictable weather and more frequent heat, floods and drought, and the need for a more resilient, transparent food system becomes urgent.

Through Cox Farms, we’re growing clean, fresh fruits and vegetables closer to homes and helping make better produce more accessible to all. Our greenhouse operations use proven, high-tech growing methods to deliver consistent quality, fueled by innovation and care for the long game.

Today, Cox Farms is the largest greenhouse operator in North America, with more than 700 acres under glass, serving over 12,000 stores and growing more than 450 million pounds of produce each year. Continuous improvement drives that scale, with hundreds of proprietary R&D trials annually refining how and what we grow. And through partnerships like Feeding America, we’re helping support communities and address food insecurity.

Playing for what’s next with Cox Cleantech 

At Cox, we believe in leaving this world better than we found it. Reducing carbon emissions and plastic waste is a critical challenge we face today.

Through Cox Cleantech, we’re helping power the transition to a more sustainable future — building businesses that renew essential plastic resources, produce renewable energy and support a low-carbon, circular economy. With more than $3 billion invested in clean technologies and businesses, we’re helping build solutions for a more sustainable future.

With Nexus Circular, we’re converting hard-to-recycle plastics into clean, high-quality, infinitely renewable oil, and we’re already diverting millions of pounds of plastic from landfills.

We’re also investing in what comes next, backing climate-tech founders with funding, mentorship and access to commercialization opportunities through the Cox Cleantech Accelerator.

Playing to protect communities’ right to be informed  

Journalism is at the center of our story, beginning in 1898, when our founder, James M. Cox, purchased his hometown newspaper on the promise to educate and inform a growing community.

Since then, our focus has been on helping people stay connected to what matters in real time, so they can better understand and engage with the world around them.

But the role of journalism is now under pressure. Trust is fractured. Attention is fragmented. Economic strain continues to challenge newsrooms, while AI-driven disruption, social media platforms and influencers are reshaping how people consume news.

Through our media brands, including The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Dayton Daily News and Axios, we’re working to strengthen journalism’s essential role: advancing local reporting and investigative work that holds power accountable. 

Today, our legacy lives on through award-winning journalism that reaches millions of monthly subscribers.

Playing to preserve the wild for future generations

There’s something powerful about being outdoors: the way nature grounds us, inspires us and reminds us that we’re part of something bigger. It’s here where core memories are made and a lifelong connection to the natural world begins.

As more people seek these experiences, the opportunity goes beyond simply getting them outside. It’s about fostering meaningful relationships with nature and inspiring stewardship that protects wildlife and wild places for generations to come.

Cox Outdoors, our newest business segment, is dedicated to outdoor recreation and conservation. Through brands that have carved a meaningful role in the global adventure story, we’re empowering people to go deeper into nature while encouraging thoughtful care for the places they explore.

We’re preserving the outdoors not just for us today, but for our grandchildren, and theirs to follow. 

We’re taking on the most pressing challenges of our time with the belief that progress happens when people, ideas and opportunities move forward together.  

That’s how we’ve learned to rewrite the rules. By working alongside entrepreneurs, innovators, community partners, clients and our own employees — everyone who believes in the long game and in building a better world.  

From the outside, it may not always look conventional. But when you step onto the field with us, you’ll see what drives us: creating win-win-win outcomes for people, communities and the planet. Because for us, real progress isn’t measured on a scoreboard, but in the legacy we leave behind.