“GE aspires to be the most competitive company in the world”, GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt said in a statement.
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General Electric has snubbed NY in its search for a new location for his corporate headquarters. That breaks down into 200 senior executives and 600 workers who focus on the company’s digital and engineering sectors, among others.
Martin also said, “We live in an increasingly dynamic world where companies will move in and out of our state”. Gov. Dannel Malloy signed off on a “very large tax favor”, according to the Hartford Courant.
It’s hard not to see the appeal of GE for Boston.
In September, the city arranged a bus tour for GE officials to visit various sites in Dorchester, Roxbury, the Seaport and the Back Bay. “We’re dead in the water”, Arthur Caraballo, of Bridgeport, said.
Further, the company’s press release admits that corporate leaders had “been considering the composition and location of its headquarters for more than three years”, long before Connecticut’s recent corporate tax changes saw the light of day.
GE has about 800 employees in Fairfield.
Boston was selected after a careful evaluation of the business ecosystem, talent, long-term costs, quality of life for employees, connections with the world and proximity to other important company assets, the company states.
Also helping make the move pencil out is incentives of up to $120 million through grants and other programs offered by MA, and property tax relief valued at up to $25 million offered by the city of Boston. It sounds like the combination of Boston’s educational institutions and tech and life sciences businesses-along with state aid and tax incentives, of course-swung the decision in Boston’s favor.
GE is moving its corporate headquarters to Boston, the company said Wednesday. Connecticut’s business community has expressed concern that the state would raise taxes to solve the pension issue. The Connecticut economy continues to struggle as other states offer more opportunities and a better environment for business growth. In 2011, GE opened a separate software unit in San Ramon, California, which employs 2,000. The full move is expected to be completed in several steps by 2018.
“GE wasn’t looking for a deal”, Rep. John Frey, a Massachusetts Republican, told reporters.
It was just a day after Connecticut’s legislature approved a budget plan with a $1.9 billion tax increase, in early June, that CEO Jeffrey Immelt said he would form an exploratory committee to consider relocating.
In her first public comments on Rhode Island’s pursuit of GE, Raimondo said in a statement, “We worked diligently to recruit GE’s headquarters to Rhode Island – and we’ll remain relentless in our efforts to bring jobs to the state”.
Joseph McGee, the vice president of the Business Council of Fairfield County, said it was an “iconic loss” for the town. Now, they are making good on that promise.
It also helps that GE will be getting a package of incentives from Boston that carries a value of as high as $145 million.
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To get a sense of the mood in MA, I took a look at the Boston Globe, where GE’s decision was being greeted with jubilation. It appears, particularly from GE’s advertising, that their decision is not about taxes but more about rebranding into a high-tech company, and Boston is well known as a high-tech industry hub.
