GE Stock Unfazed by Reports of Move to Boston

In a statement on Wednesday, GE Chairman and Chief Executive Jeff Immelt said his company wants “to be at the center of an ecosystem that shares our aspirations”.

Connecticut’s General Assembly later passed a revised budget that scaled back some of the business-related tax increases, but GE continued hearing pitches from other states as it said it was seeking a more business-friendly home.

General Electric’s decision to move its headquarters from Fairfield to Boston gives Connecticut Republicans “good talking points for the upcoming legislative races”, a University of Connecticut political science professor said Thursday.

GE already has almost 5,000 employees across the state in such business lines as Aviation, Oil & Gas and Energy Management. But now they have a new and powerful ally to help them do just that.

The self-described “digital industrial company” is focusing on software and analytics based solutions and equipment that promotes connectivity with its heavy equipment and other products in its industrial sectors. They’ll be joined by 600 others that GE describes in its release as “digital industrial product managers, designers and developers”.

MA offered GE incentives of up to $120 million through grants and other programs, while the city of Boston offered up to $25 million in property tax relief, according to the mayor’s office.

GE’s decision to shift its headquarters in a more digitally hi-tech environ reveals how big industries and businesses have been forced to plan their functioning according to the latest requirement of digital age and consider it not as an opportunity but also as a threat.

The scale of the GE infrastructure investments could dwarf what the state has done in the past.

“This is a big emotional hit from the standpoint that for 40 years we’ve been home and world headquarters for GE, one of the best known companies in the entire world, and in a few months that won’t be the case”, he said.

Update: In response to a request for comment, a GE spokesperson said over email, “GE pays taxes in MA and everywhere we do business”. “They’re high-paying jobs”, said John Frey, “We’re not talking about an Amazon distribution center”.

“GE’s departure of their headquarters to Boston is a sad and significant event for the CT economy, and we won’t be replacing those jobs anytime soon”, he said in research note to clients. Persuading the company to move to Boston involved city and state tax incentives and grants of $145 million at a time when CT is considering raising taxes on businesses.

Malloy said his administration offered GE a “highly competitive” incentive package, in hopes of encouraging the company to remain at its Fairfield campus.

GE’s move from Fairfield, Connecticut, is set to begin this summer and will be completed by 2018.

Which isn’t nothing, but keep in mind that on Wednesday GE also announced that it would cut up to 6,500 jobs in Europe over the next two years. The state officials said the capital funds could only be used for public projects, meaning the money could not be used to retrofit private office space.

With 800 employees, the Boston headquarters will be the same size as Fairfield, but its makeup will change, GE said.