The company is enthusiastic bring its headquarters to this creative and dynamic city. Back in April the company announced that it would sell and approximated $200 billion in assets from its GE Capital financing division.
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Still, GE has deep roots in NY.
Fed researchers concluded that while the NY and Kansas City regions were essentially flat, other parts of the country were reporting growth and Boston was particularly healthy.
The company, as well as Boston Mayor Martin Walsh and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker confirmed the headquarters relocation.
GE is attempting to position itself as a “digital industrial” company by expanding a business providing data analytical capabilities for its heavy-duty equipment.
“The ecosystem that we have here in MA to support innovation is what won us this prize”, Gov. Baker’s secretary of economic development Jay Ash told the Boston Globe.
GE pulls in almost $130 billion in revenue each year, and ranks eighth on the Fortune 500 list. It’s unclear how many will remain in the state. Employees will move to a temporary location in Boston starting in the summer of 2016, with a full move completed in several steps by 2018.
Only about 800 of GE’s more than 300,000 employees work at the Fairfield campus. He wants to see the state’s focus move away from attempting to lure big headquarters to CT.
Last year, GE along with other companies like Aetna and Travelers balked at proposed corporate tax hikes in CT. Additional incentives include $1 million in workforce training grants; up to $5 million for an “innovation center” to help forge relationships between GE and MA research institutions and schools; and assistance to eligible employees looking to purchase homes in Boston.
General Electric has announced that it has selected the city of Boston as the next location for the company’s corporate headquarters.
“Of course we are disappointed, and we know that many in Connecticut share that frustration”, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy said.
“They are unequivocally not moving about taxes, they made it very clear to us and it is not about incentive packages either”, he said. In June, GE said it would consider moving out of its Fairfield headquarters due to recent tax increases.
USA media suggested there were tax motives behind the move, since corporate taxes were raised last year in the neighboring state of CT, where GE has had its headquarters in Fairfield for more than 40 years.
The move was mourned in CT, but MA officials rejoiced. Boston is home to booming tech center as well as a wealth of universities in the city proper and surrounding areas. GE will also be selling its offices in Fairfield, Conn., and at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. “Losing an internationally renowned company like GE is a big hit to the state”.
The move also will lower GE’s tax bill.
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For years, GE has been at the forefront of industrial companies seeking to use sensor data and clever software to make its machines smarter, using less fuel and predicting when they need maintenance before breakdowns occur.
