Charlotte this week is remembering one of its best-known CEOs. Doug Lebda co-founded LendingTree in 1996 and it has become one of the city’s most enduring tech companies. Lebda died Sunday in an ATV accident. He was 55. To talk more about Lebda and other business news of the week, Tony Mecia of the Charlotte Ledger Business Newsletter joined WFAE’s Marshall Terry for our segment BizWorthy.
Marshall Terry: For those who don’t know what does LendingTree do and what makes it significant in Charlotte?
Tony Mecia: LendingTree matches customers with companies that are selling credit cards, loans and other financial products. It does it online. You might have heard their tagline, ‘When banks compete, you win.’ It might not sound like that remarkable of a business in 2025, but you have to remember that when Doug Lebda started it in 1996, the internet was in its infancy. It wasn't clear where it was going exactly. [Lebda] endured through the dot.com bust of the early 2000s and was CEO of this company for nearly 30 years and really built it into a force here in Charlotte, proving that Charlotte could be a place where you could start a company and you could build a successful tech company. He inspired a lot of other entrepreneurs over the last 30 years.
Terry: How is Lebda being remembered, and what is the business doing to cope with his loss?
Mecia: I talked with a number of people in the technology and startup space, and they were just devastated this week. They said that Lebda, yes, he's one of the best-known CEOs in Charlotte, has a public persona, but there's a lot of work that he did behind the scenes to encourage startups and other tech companies. Some of that work was public, but a lot of it was private, just in conversations. [They] said he was a really down-to-earth guy.
He's also being remembered for his philanthropy. He started the LendingTree Foundation. The company hasn't said a whole lot.
The company has named a new CEO, a new chairman, so they're moving forward with new leadership.
Terry: A nearly 200-year-old business based in Charlotte recently announced it’s shutting down. Baker & Taylor is a library wholesaler. What is that exactly? And why are they closing?
Mecia: Baker & Taylor provided books and other services to libraries, including Charlotte Mecklenburg Library. It has been struggling financially over the last few years, especially after the pandemic. There was a cyberattack in 2022, it's encountered a number of problems. It had entered an acquisition deal with a book distributor called ReaderLink that fell through last month. The company's CEO told workers that it would close after 197 years in business, probably around several hundred employees affected. The headquarters was out by the airport. At its peak, Baker & Taylor, which was founded in Connecticut in 1828, had more than $2 billion in annual sales, but sort of end of an era for this company.
Terry: Let's get into the rezoning weeds. A state law that quietly took effect last week includes a change that could make for more contentious rezoning fights when developers want to build something new. What's this change?
Mecia: It is a little bit in the weeds, but the change in this new state law says that developers, when they apply for rezonings, if those rezonings are denied or withdrawn, they don't have to wait to resubmit new rezoning plans.
The city of Charlotte currently has a two-year waiting period. If you're denied on your rezoning, you have to wait two years before saying how you would redevelop that property. This will eliminate that requirement and it's really designed as a way to stop local elected officials from halting development by denying rezoning petitions. In Charlotte, it's very rare for the City Council to deny rezoning petitions. Usually, they're withdrawn before they're denied, but this could encourage more votes, more contentious back-and-forth on rezonings.
