Feb 14, 2019

General Electric scales back Boston HQ plans

Construction on GE's new Boston headquarters in April 2018. Photo: David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Just hours after Amazon bailed on New York City, General Electric confirmed Thursday that it will scale back plans for a new headquarters in Boston. It also will reimburse Massachusetts for $87.4 million in incentive payments.

The bottom line: New jobs promises are empty until people are actually hired.

GE originally announced in March 2016 that it would move its headquarters from Connecticut to Boston's Seaport District, including the construction of a new campus on a 2.7-acre site. The company expected to employ around 800 people and anchor a new innovation hub that was expected to include participation by other local companies and universities.
But that deal was done under former CEO Jeff Immelt, and the company has since seen its stock lose over two-thirds of its value.
Today's announcement includes the reimbursement of the money originally used to acquire and prepare the new headquarters site — and the actual property will now be jointly marketed for sale to someone else. GE will still move into the new facility, but with only around 250 employees.

Go deeper: Podcast: Corporate tax breaks and broken promises

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Axios

Updated 42 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Global: Total confirmed cases as of 2 p.m. ET: 6,325,303 — Total deaths: 377,460 — Total recoveries — 2,727,679 — Map.
U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 2 p.m. ET: 1,820,523 — Total deaths: 105,644 — Total recoveries: 458,231 — Total tested: 17,340,682 — Map.
Public health: Protests against police brutality threaten coronavirus response — Controlling the virus in nursing homes won't be easy.
Business: More than 1 in 6 black workers lost jobs between February and April.
Climate: The alarm over climate financial risk gets louder because of coronavirus.
Media: Interest in the George Floyd protests has soared past the coronavirus.

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Updated 1 hour ago - Politics & Policy

Updates: George Floyd protests nationwide

Police officers wearing riot gear push back demonstrators outside of the White House on Monday. Photo: Jose Luis Magana/AFP via Getty Images

Protests over the death of George Floyd and other police-related killings of black people continued across the U.S., inciting a federal response from President Trump, the National Guard, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.

The latest: Immigration agents have been deployed to assist federal, state and local law enforcement. The U.S. Secret Service closed the streets immediately on all four sides of the White House Tuesday, until "riots become peaceful, or stop."

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NASA passes the torch

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

With the historic crewed SpaceX launch last weekend, NASA passed the torch to private companies that will need to step up to build the economy the space agency envisions in orbit.

Why it matters: This new era of spaceflight will likely be marked by new conflicts — possibly including product placement (like the Tesla that drove the astronauts to the pad on Saturday), safety concerns and cultural differences between companies, the space agencies and people they serve.

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