Seeking Boston’s “diverse and technologically-fluent” talent, GE said it would move its corporate headquarters to the Massachusetts capital from Connecticut, where it’s been based for four decades. “Today, GE is a $130 billion high-tech global industrial company, one that is leading the digital transformation of industry,” said GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt. “We want to be at the center of an ecosystem that shares our aspirations.”
Greater Boston is home to 55 colleges and universities, including Harvard, Wellesley and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the state spends more on research and development than any other region in the world. “Boston attracts a diverse, technologically-fluent workforce focused on solving challenges for the world,” Immelt said.
GE has been considering the composition and location of its headquarters for more than three years. The company began its formal review in June 2015 with a list of 40 potential locations. The company said in a press release it picked Boston “after a careful evaluation of the business ecosystem, talent, long-term costs, quality of life for employees, connections with the world and proximity to other important company assets.”
GE is finishing a pivotal year in its transformation into the world’s largest digital industrial company. The company launched GE Digital to help its businesses, customers and partners start moving and analyzing data in the cloud and acquired Alstom’s power and grid business in what was its largest acquisition in history. GE is also well ahead of its plan to sell most GE Capital assets.
Susan Peters, GE board member and vice president for human resources, said “the move to Boston will enable GE to lead in the digital industrial space and better serve our customers.” Said Peters: “The new GE HQ will be even more technology focused with ever-present business intensity surrounded by universities, investors and the business community.”
Pictured above: Inspiration for the architects as we plan for our new collaborative HQ space.
