Posted on 01/13/2016 10:12:53 PM PST by iowamark
General Electric, the nation's largest industrial company, makes products like jet engines, locomotives and gas turbines. Its corporate reputation is tied to producing big, heavy equipment - atoms by the ton, not the ephemeral bits of software.
Yet Jeffrey Immelt, the chief executive, predicted last September that G.E. would be a "top 10 software company"' by 2020. In recent years, the company has steadily built up its software business, and its industrial products are increasingly loaded with digital sensors, all part of an effort to be a leader in the "industrial Internet."
Now, in its latest step to remake itself - and its public image - as an industrial company for the digital era, G.E. said it was moving its headquarters from its longtime sprawling suburban home in Fairfield, Conn., to the high-tech environs of Boston...
The area is crowded with 55 colleges and universities, including research centers like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard and Northeastern University. G.E. said it was also attracted by the area’s thriving venture capital and start-up community, and pro-business state and local government.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
From Rooters...
“Massachusetts will provide up to $120 million in grants and other incentives and the city will provide property tax savings of up to $25 million. The state funds must be spent on public infrastructure, including site preparation, building acquisition costs and road and building improvements, GE said.
GE also is eligible for $1 million in workforce training grants, and up to $5 million to foster relations between the company, research institutions and universities.
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said GE’s decision resulted from “the city’s willingness and excitement to work creatively” to attract the company, bringing 800 high-paying jobs to the city.
The move also will lower GE’s tax bill. Even though Massachusetts is often called “Taxachusetts,” it ranked 25th in a 2016 Tax Foundation survey of positive business tax climates among U.S. states. Connecticut ranked 44th, near the bottom.”
Not surprising, the disgusting Slimes doesn’t mention the main reason GE is moving - Connecticut wanting to increase their already high taxes.
From the Street.com
“While Connecticut is backtracking on the most unpopular aspects of a state budget that included big tax hikes for businesses, it may be too late to keep General Electric (GE - Get Report), not to mention several other major corporations.
GE formed a committee to explore relocating its headquarters from Fairfield, its home for the past 41 years, after the state legislature approved a so-called unitary tax this month that would not only have placed levies on income earned outside the state but would have been retroactive as well. The committee, which CEO Jeff Immelt said in a memo would seek a more business-friendly home, is continuing to look, GE said on Thursday.
Another loss may be New Jersey-based Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), which has about 900 employees in the Nutmeg State. Bristol-Myers recently announced it’s moving the bulk of its operations out of Wallingford, where it has had a site since 1986, and into neighboring Massachusetts. The move was based on the company’s strategy of putting scientists closer to centers of innovation and business opportunity, Bristol-Myers spokesman Frederick Egenolf said in an e-mail.”
Great to see high tax states getting punished (Though Mass is not exactly a tax haven). GE had been threatening to leave for a while if CT didn’t back down on the tax increase. By the time they got around to doing so it was too late. So they don’t get the tax increase they wanted AND they lose a big iconic business. A happy ending.
Can’t wait for Malloy’s presser
Crappy products.
Heck, they couldn’t even make metal freezer shelves to spec.
I’ll never own anything with GE written on it. Ever!
Nevermind Obama’s suck buddy Immelt (sp?) from GE who told Americans to quite criticizing big government.
A little man and his crappy company.
Ain’t that just nifty..!
They should move to Bermuda, where it's warmer.
But, then, on the other hand, it's only a year and a few days ...
Interesting, they get to keep new england culture etc and not have to move someplace more vulgarian, even though it may have been more business friendly. I wonder if the fact that Joe Lieberman is gone, ( Pro Defense and Pro Israel ) who used to bring home the bacon for Mil-Spec contractors in CT has anything to do with it. For the life of me I can’t see the center of Senatorial Power shifting to Mass and being in their favor. My guess this is as much about keeping employee and spouses happy than anything. Friends and families are not that far a drive away....
One which offshores everything it possibly can, because, while Americans are good enough to buy GE's products, they aren't good enough to actually work for GE.
Their industrial side is a bit different from household appliances.
They both wear glasses.
I guess Imelt didn’t like his granpappy’s hammer?
LOL, don’t you see a resemblance? One is Obama’s Pajama Boy, and the other is a wimpy guy who is frightened by his father’s sledgehammer.
Now, if the guy had grabbed the sledgehammer and said “YEAH! I am going to use this hammer to smash the barriers that stand in my way of programming the new GE CT scanners!” I would have been okay with it...:)
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