GE Moving Headquarters From CT To Boston

The Globe on Wednesday said GE executives had called the MA governor and Boston’s mayor to let them know a formal announcement was coming.

Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy and economic development officials scrambled to keep the company in Connecticut as officials from other states, including Georgia, Rhode Island and Texas, made pitches of their own to bring the company to town.

The move was prompted by a change in corporate-tax policies in CT previous year.

Wednesday’s 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.

The global conglomerate, which counts Thomas Edison as a founder, employs about 800 people in its Fairfield, Connecticut headquarters.

“GE aspires to be the most competitive company in the world”, GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt said. It was unclear how many of GE’s CT workers would remain in the state.

GE has a significant existing presence in MA, with almost 5,000 employees across the state in businesses including Aviation, Oil Gas and Energy Management.

The move was mourned in CT, but MA officials rejoiced.

GE says it will have a temporary office in Boston beginning this summer, with its full move to the city completed by 2018.

Some $1 million in workforce training grants.

The company looked at locations in 40 states before narrowing down the list.

GE said its new headquarters will be in the Seaport District of Boston.

Concerning the overall economy in Connecticut, Godfrey said, “Unemployment is down”. This continues a pattern that has many big business feeling as though the state treats them unfairly. “Luckily we’ve won more than we’ve lost”.

The company plans to sell its offices in Fairfield as well as the iconic 30 Rockefeller Center building in New York City.