GE picks Boston for headquarters location

“MA spends more on research & development than any other region in the world, and Boston attracts a diverse, technologically fluent workforce”.

Swapnil Shah, the CEO of an energy analytics company in Lexington, said GE will create new opportunities for college students, entrepreneurs and researchers.

The announcement comes three years after the $130 billion high-tech global industrial company said it began considering a new composition and location for its headquarters, and more than seven months after the firm threatened to leave CT, complaining about the state’s tax environment.

Boston was chosen after a careful evaluation of the ecosystem for business, talent, long-term costs, quality of life for employees, connections with the world and proximity to other important activities, the CEO added.

GE plans to move some of its 800 workers in Fairfield, Connecticut to a temporary location in Boston this summer.

“I think taxes are something that the state really needs to look at and see how that impacts its residents because if businesses are leaving, there’s a lot of things that are connected”, Caitlin Pereira, of Fairfield, said.

Fairfield First Selectman Michael Tetreau said the town is facing the loss of 800 jobs with the pending sale of GE’s headquarters.

Malloy said he was “disappointed” in GE’s announcement but was assured by the company that it would maintain a sizeable presence in the state. The state’s codes have become more complex and are particularly unfavorable for large corporations as CT has imposed a surtax on some businesses, said Jared Walczak, a policy analyst at the Washington-based research group. GE’s willingness to put down roots here offers evidence that global business giants no longer view Boston as just a great place to go shopping for acquisitions – they also want to call the city home.

The company is packing up its headquarters here and moving to Boston. The briefing will include state and city officials and business leaders.

GE’s digital push is part of the company’s evolution, as it’s focused its investment on the industrial side of its business while sharply cutting its once-huge finance arm in the wake of the financial crisis.

Brennan said discussions he’s had with GE indicate the company has been frustrated for years about the uncertainty and lack of predictability with Connecticut’s budget, the “lurching between tax increases and deficits”.

GE, he said, “acted very much above-board”. In that sense, GE is hitching its brand to the innovation that emanates from their labs and classrooms, and eventually supplies it more new recruits.

GE is attempting to position itself as a “digital industrial” company by expanding a business providing data analytical capabilities for its heavy-duty equipment. “They’re high-paying jobs”, said John Frey, “We’re not talking about an Amazon distribution center”.

Many states, including Georgia, Rhode Island and Texas, have tried their hand in luring GE.

“When the two of them combined forces, it was a major turning point”, said an official involved in the deal, referring to the combo of a Democratic mayor and Republican governor.

The city and state also agreed to make transportation improvements in the Seaport District and to build an innovation center where GE and university researchers can collaborate.