Newsstand - Boeing To Move Center From Seattle

Aerospace giant Boeing Co. plans to move its world headquarters out of Seattle.

Boeing is considering sites in Chicago, Denver and Dallas-Fort Worth, the company said in a statement Wednesday.

At a news conference in Washington, D.C., Boeing chairman and chief executive officer Phil Condit said the move is part of a transformation to create ``value for our shareholders.''
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Boeing.html

The battle for Boeing is
on.
The aerospace giant's shock announcement on Wednesday that it

plans to move its world headquarters out of Seattle after 85 years to either Denver, Chicago or Dallas/Fort Worth set off a frenzy in the three cities where officials are drooling over the cachet Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA - news) will bring to its new home -- and the 500 jobs that go with it.
The aircraft manufacturer is expected to make a final decision by early summer and have a new headquarters up and running by fall as it seeks to be more central to all its operating units, customers and the financial community. Its huge manufacturing plants will remain in the Seattle area.

Until the lucky winner is announced, however, expect a sort-of dog-and-pony show as the candidate cities fight to woo Boeing with tax breaks and other concessions, said Miyun Cho, executive vice president and managing director of Strategic Growth Advisors, a real estate advisory firm which consults on government incentives to business.

``By making this announcement Boeing is inviting Denver, Dallas and Chicago to bid on their business,'' Cho said. ``How much do you want these jobs is what they are asking.''

Badly, it seems.
http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/010321/n21650964.html

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 03-21-2001).]

"It's a flagship company. It would be a very prestigious corporation to have in any community," Fort Worth Mayor Kenneth Barr said, adding that the area would be a logical location so that Boeing could be near one of its biggest customers, Fort Worth-based American Airlines.

Denver officials pointed to undeveloped acreage near Denver International Airport and at the closed Stapleton International Airport.
http://news.airwise.com/stories/2001/03/985262220.html

Why anyone would choose to move from Seattle to Dallas is beyond me.

Seattle is absolutely stunned today. It's all anyone is talking about.

Boeing's reasoning is suspect. The argument that moving to the center of the US positions executives closer to their worldwide customers is pretty slim. Especially if you stack DEN's connections against SEA's. If they go to Denver it's actually harder for them to get to PacRim destinations.

Speculation is that this is political retribution to state government for the creation of an "anti-business climate," whatever that is, and the finger-pointing in the capital today is just deafening.

Washington State has no income tax---I bet that will one of the first things these execs will miss after they move.

This is also another sign that McDonald Douglas were really the ones who bought Boeing--not the other way around.

Being from ATL, I don't have a dog in this fight, but would like to point out that Texas does not have income tax, as well. Plus, for accounting reasons, all these execs could still be employed by Wash State-based entity.
I also find the official reasons pretty suspect. There is no place in US which centrally located for world-wide market. Dallas is, nevertheless, rather centrally located, smthng like 2 hrs away from 80% of US population or so, in USA. I know a few ATL-based companies which moved to Dallas or started support centers there for this very reason.
I don't see anyone who flies picking either Chicago or Denver. Nice places, no problems - but in the winter, weather can be quite a factor.
So in my book its DFW, hands down. Conveniently, AA is there already.

P.S. If Boeing mngmt was smart, of course, they would pick ATL. But they aren't, and I dumped my NYSE:BA long time ago.

This is a really drastic step for Boeing to take. Is there any chance this is just sabre rattling and they are trying to cut a financial deal with state and local entities for tax incentives and the like? Boeing could just as easily open a major support center anyplace else, and still keep HQ in Seattle. This whole thing sounds manufactured.

You're correct that Texas currently has no state income tax. Here's another bit of info that's kind of interesting, too. Our state legislature is meeting now, and there's been a bill introduced that would give VERY favorable tax breaks to companies with an appraised value (for property tax purposes) of more than $100 million. Let me repeat the key word here -- VERY favorable tax breaks. What timing with this announcement! Makes me wonder if this is more than just a coincidence. BTW, the state representative who filed the bill is from Fort Worth.

"...Is there any chance this is just sabre rattling and they are trying to cut a financial deal with state and local entities for tax incentives and the like?...

This was my first initial thought as well- but I have no idea really! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/eek.gif

Chicago moved quickly to position the city as the front-running candidate over Dallas/Fort Worth and Denver, the two other locations Boeing said it is considering to which to move its headquarters from Seattle.
http://news.airwise.com/stories/2001/03/985351116.html


AND:

The Boeing Company's surprising plan to move its headquarters out of Seattle 85 years after the company's founding there represents the boldest step yet in a quest it has been chasing nearly as long: escaping the economic ups and downs of aircraft manufacturing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/23/business/23BOEI.html

What did Boeing want that Boeing didn't get?

That's the puzzle for dazed politicos in Washington.

Gov. Gary Locke, legislative leaders and Seattle Mayor Paul Schell talk wistfully about getting Boeing to reverse what the company says its a final decision to move its headquarters out of state.

But they concede they have little to offer the aerospace giant and state cornerstone of recognition.

And they can't figure out what, if anything, they could have done to head off the bombshell decision by the state's No. 1 employer and cash cow.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Boeing-Second-Guessing.html?searchpv=aponline

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 03-23-2001).]

Boeing Rejects Plea to Rethink Moving
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/27/national/27BOEI.html

Chicago business leaders and government officials today said they would do whatever they can to make Boeing Co. officials' visit to Illinois this week a productive one.

"We'll basically do whatever they ask us to," said Rob Phillips, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs, the state agency leading the effort to woo Boeing to move its corporate headquarters to the area from Seattle.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/businessnews/article/0,2669,ART-51251,FF.html


The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA - news) will hold its annual meeting on Monday, April 30, at 10 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time at The Westin Seattle. The hotel is located at 1900 Fifth Ave., in downtown Seattle.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20001004/BOEINGLOGO )
The location of the meeting was moved to the Westin from a company building across from Boeing Field due to damage the building sustained during the Feb. 28 earthquake that struck the Puget Sound region. Repairs couldn't be made to the building in time for the annual meeting.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010418/sfw110.html

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 04-18-2001).]

Wherever Boeing goes, they will get great tax/financial incentives. Weather is a factor against CHI and DEN, however, I have had just as many "storm" delays at DFW as anywhere. DEN does not offer the option of locating HQ near the airport (unless BA builds new). DAL and CHI offer locations downtown or in nearby "suburban" locations. When the BA execs. were in town, the papers played-up that CHI cultural activities were far superior, especially the Lyric Opera (the execs are big opera fans apparently). Traffic was a concern, but it will be almost as bad in DAL. How's DEN? (Of course, the execs travelled by chopper and didn't have any traffic problems themselves). I would like to hear any reports from DAL and DEN when BA tours your city.

Seattle needs to be friendlier to business, Boeing Co. Chairman Phil Condit said Monday in some of his harshest criticism of the city since announcing Boeing's decision to move its corporate headquarters.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Boeing-Shareholders.html

DIA is the only airport of the three cities Boeing has considered for fixed base operations (FBA) for its fleet of corporate jets. Boeing wants corporate headquarters to be within 15 minutes of an airport. Looking at sites in DIA or nearby.

Perhaps Denver will get this plum based on merit rather than incentives.

"It is absolutely critical that the business climate in Seattle be improved," Mr Condit said. However he insisted the company's decision to move its corporate headquarters from the city where it was founded in 1916 is "not because we don't like Seattle."
http://news.airwise.com/stories/2001/05/988879218.html


Colorado's Boeing incentives below rivals
http://www.infobeat.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/IBFrontEnd.woa/wa/fullStory?article=-1740569692

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 05-03-2001).]

Boeing Selects New HQ

And the winner is...

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum109/HTML/002454.html