It has increasingly added a digital emphasis to its industrial offerings, and a year ago Immelt pledged to make GE a “top 20 software company” by 2020.
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According to Immelt, Boston ecosystem shares the aspirations of his company. If GE sells its campus, with an assessed value of $74.7 million, the new owner would be responsible for the same bill unless it is a charitable entity.
“We haven’t made any announcements and do not have a comment at this time”, GE spokeswoman Jennifer Erickson said.
General Electric has a new home.
Boston’s advantages showed up in another way on Wednesday.
The $130 billion global industrial giant said it has been weighing a headquarters move for more than three years. 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.
According to GE, the company will suffer no material financial impact from the transfer of location of its corporate headquarters.
MA offered $120 million in grants and other incentives to help lure the company from CT, in addition to $25 million in property tax relief being offered by the city of Boston.
The report also noted that officials in Boston and MA were notified about the company’s decision.
General Electric will relocate its headquarters from CT to Boston.
By packing up from a sleepy CT suburb the company is also tapping into an urbanization trend taking root with younger Americans, enabling it to attract engineers and executives who might be considering jobs in New York City and San Francisco.
Malloy acknowledged being disappointed in GE’s decision and said he knows many in CT share that disappointment and frustration. “Today’s decision is a clear signal that CT must continue to adapt to a changing business climate”. Until we make structural changes to Connecticut’s budget, I fear that many more businesses will continue to leave this state.
The company has been conducting a nationwide search for a new headquarters since last summer when it announced past year that it was unhappy in with Connecticut’s tax policies. A full move is expected to be completed by 2018. Lincoln Almond, suggested Rhode Island was always a long shot in the competition for GE. “They live throughout Fairfield County”.
Senate President Martin M. Looney also released a statement on the move by GE. GE might have rejected NY for Boston, but it will continue to have a strong presence in the Empire State and in the Capital Region, where it has thousands of employees. Gov. Dannel Malloy revised some of the corporate income-tax increases and held meetings with GE to try to persuade them to stay put. “They have to have a tax environment that is at least as good as MA”.
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But for GE’s old stomping grounds in Fairfield, Connecticut, the news largely brought out a feeling of doom and gloom in the business community. After complaints from GE and other corporations, the legislators chose to cut back on some of the proposed tax increases later in the year.
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The Republican Governors Association described the company’s move as bolting Malloy’s “high-tax Connecticut” for MA.
