In December 2025, Town of Genesee-based Generac purchased a 200,000-square-foot building on the headquarters campus of Sussex-based Quad for $20 million. Though the transaction may not rank among the highest-dollar commercial real estate deals in Waukesha County, its closure is merely the most recent development in a shift for both companies over the past several years.

Since 2021, Generac and Quad have exhibited opposite sales growth, diverging at a similar rate following the COVID-19 pandemic. Though the two exist in different market segments – Generac in power generation and energy storage equipment manufacturing and Quad in marketing and print services – their sales trends are evidence of a shift in product commodity and capitalization on a growing technology and artificial intelligence landscape, driven by data center development.

BizTimes collected net sales from the two companies from 2008, marked by the Great Recession, to 2026 using each company’s guidance to anticipate sales trends at the end of the fiscal year. The following is a chronological look at what contributed to the companies’ sales and changing positions in the market over the past 18 years.

2008-10: IPO launch

Quad, founded in 1971, began its transition from a printing company into a printing and marketing experience company in 2008, consolidating a slew of plants across the country and bringing operations back to Wisconsin.

In 2010, Quad made what would be one of its largest acquisitions to date – a $1.3 billion deal through which it became a publicly traded company. Its July 2010 acquisition of Worldcolor, combined with its initial public offering, made the newly created corporation the second-largest provider of print, digital and related services in the Americas at the time. Once the deal closed, the company employed nearly 30,000 employees serving customers in the U.S., Canada, Latin America and Europe.

The acquisition launched Quad’s next initiatives to consolidate operations in Wisconsin and bring jobs back to the state. In November 2010, the company announced it would add 420 full- and part-time positions as part of a plan to expand its Wisconsin operations and create up to 1,300 new jobs in the state. A week before that announcement, the company secured $46 million in enterprise zone tax credits to create those jobs over an 11-year period while retaining the more than 5,500 jobs it already had in the state. In turn, Quad began restarting equipment that had been shut down in 2009 in response to the worldwide economic downturn.

In February 2010, near the same time Quad announced its acquisition of Worldcolor, Generac launched its IPO of 18.75 million shares of common stock at a price of $13 per share.

2011-16: Mergers and acquisitions

As the companies evolved following their IPOs, both began making acquisitions to broaden their reach and tap new markets.

Over the next six years, Quad executed more than a dozen acquisitions, more than doubled annual revenue to $4.7 billion, added thousands of employees and invested in expanded digital marketing capabilities. Quad also closed 34 printing plants during that time and reduced its overall headcount by 10,000 in its transition into the marketing experience space.

Generac completed a number of acquisitions also, including Magnum Products for $80 million in 2011, Ottomotores for $46.5 million in 2012, and a majority share of PR Industrial S.r.l., owner of Pramac and other subsidiaries, in 2017. Its acquisitions helped expand the company’s reach internationally to Mexico, Brazil, Italy and more.

2017-20: The divergence

Following years of acquisitions and strategic changes to its product portfolio, 2017 marked the beginning of the diverging trend in both companies’ net sales.

Generac capitalized on its residential sales from 2017 to 2019 in the aftermath of major storms including Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. In 2017 alone, Generac reported over 15% net sales growth, largely driven by strong residential standby generator shipments, increased demand in its Commercial & Industrial segment, and added earnings from its acquisition of Motortech, which added $69.7 million in sales that year.

That was followed by two more consecutive years of sales growth, up 20.5% in 2018 and 8.9% in 2019. Generac attributed growth in both years to strong residential sales and steady C&I sales.

The 2017-19 period marked a transformative time for Quad, closing on a $132.5 million acquisition of Minnesota-based creative agency Periscope, which was complete in early 2019.

Amidst already declining sales and a decline in print manufacturing in the age of digital media, Quad was dealt a devastating blow, however.

In late 2018, Quad announced plans to acquire LSC Communications for $1.4 billion – a transaction that could have nearly doubled the company’s revenue, continued the consolidation of the printing industry and advanced Quad’s strategy for dealing with industry disruption.

In June 2019, however, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the deal, arguing that it would end aggressive competition between the two and harm customers in the magazine, catalog and book markets. The court fight over the acquisition barely made it one round before the two printing giants mutually agreed to terminate the deal in July 2019.

Generac vs. Quad sales growth since 2008

(Net sales in millions)

2020-22: Victimization versus capitalization

The printing industry continued to see decline throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, especially as society digitized work and personal media consumption. Quad reported a 25.3% decline in its net sales in 2020, only growing 1% and 8% in 2021 and 2022, respectively, before dropping again year-over-year after 2022.

Meanwhile, while capitalizing on increased demand for residential generators during COVID, Generac made a major acquisition. In late 2021, the company announced plans to acquire Toronto-based smart thermostat maker ecobee in a deal valued at up to $770 million. At the time, Generac CEO Aaron Jagdfeld’s vision was that the ecobee platform would bring together the company’s product portfolio, including home battery storage, energy monitoring offerings, and water heater and propane tank monitors, maximizing their benefit to customers and the company.

2022-26: Rebrand and data center boom

With sales on the downfall, Quad leaned into its marketing experience offerings, continuing its repositioning as less a manufacturer and more a marketing systems partner. The company sold a majority of its European companies in late 2024 in a deal valued at $45 million. The decision to divest was made to optimize Quad’s business portfolio for growth as a marketing experience company, CEO Joel Quadracci said at the time of the deal.

A year later, in October 2025, Quad listed for sale the Sussex building that Generac would later occupy in order to generate cash for growth.

During that time, Generac began seeing its C&I segment grow as data center development boomed. After reporting a 5% net sales decrease in the third quarter of its 2025 fiscal year, driven by fewer global power outage events than usual, Generac continued to look to the data center market to offset seasonal demand for some of its products. That quarter, Generac reported that its C&I product sales, the category that includes large data center generators, increased 9% to $358 million, marking the beginning of exponential growth in the segment.

Generac’s 2026 guidance anticipates 30% sales growth in its C&I segment. The purchase of its new facility in Sussex is accommodating the company’s need for additional capacity for data center product manufacturing.

“We’re likely going to see $800,000 to $1 million in revenue next year,” said Mike Halloran, managing director and senior research analyst at Baird, regarding Generac’s C&I growth. “Two years ago, it was zero.”

At the close of its first quarter this year, Generac reported sales of $1.06 billion, led by a nearly 30% increase in sales in its C&I segment and the stabilization of its previously declining residential segment.

“Wisconsin sits at the center of that momentum as home to Generac’s headquarters and a concentration of manufacturing, distribution and office operations,” said Haley Ludwick, senior public relations manager at Generac. “Ongoing investments, including our new facility in Sussex and expanded capacity at existing plants in Oshkosh and Beaver Dam, reflect a focused effort to grow production close to home.”

Generac’s C&I team has grown from roughly 1,600 employees to more than 2,400 over the past two years, with continued hiring ahead, Ludwick said.

For the first time since 2022, Quad returned to profitability in 2025, reporting net earnings of $27 million last year after losing more than $50 million a year in 2023 and 2024. Quad leaders, though they declined to speak with BizTimes for this story, said at the time that they expect the company’s sales to grow again, starting in 2028.