BOEING TO MOVE HQ FROM SEATTLE, GIVE UNITS MORE INDEPENDENCE
Citing need for growth and “to seize opportunities,” Boeing Chmn.-CEO Phil Condit announced Wed. that company would move hq from Seattle to one of 3 cities -- Chicago, Dallas/Ft. Worth or Denver. In news conference in Washington, he said move wasn’t related to energy crisis that forced new round of rolling blackouts in Cal. or to earthquake in Seattle. Company made decision “before the earthquake hit,” Condit said. Boeing also promoted leaders of 3 operating units to pres.-CEOs, all but making each unit independent of company with its own hq separate from company. “As we've grown, we have determined that our headquarters needs to be in a location central to all our operating units, customers and the financial community, but separate from our existing operations,” Condit said. “Our newly promoted business unit leaders will have greater freedom to serve their customers,” he said, but “I still expect a lot of synergy between the business units.”
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Condit announced promotions for leaders and hqs for units: James Albaugh, pres.-CEO, Space & Communications, Seal Beach, Cal.; Jerry Daniels, pres.-CEO, Military Aircraft & Missile Systems, St. Louis; Alan Mulally, Commercial Airplanes, Seattle. Company hasn’t made final decision among cities for global hq, except to reduce finalists to 3. Condit said he listed cities in alphabetical order to avoid suggesting preference. Move will give each CEO “greater freedom and greater responsibility,” he said. “If you're living with somebody, it changes the dynamics of what you're doing.”
New corporate center will have less than half the 1,000 employees who work in Seattle, Condit said. Move may result in layoffs of some there, he said, but “I don’t think they'll be significant.” Of jobs that could be affected by move, “some of them are tasks that will clearly continue,” but for some, “the jobs will go away.” Decision to move hq from Seattle was “purely strategic,” Condit said, and goal is to find “central unit” with “easier access to global financial markets [that] provides a strong probusiness environment and allows easy access to major Boeing operations and customers.”
Length of commute between Seattle and Washington, N.Y. and other locations in U.S. and proximity to Europe and Asia are factors in choice of new hq, he said. Condit mentioned access to world cities from Chicago’s O'Hare Airport and flight delays as other factors company will consider when deciding on new base. Boeing expects to decide on new location by summer and move in by fall, he said.
Boeing’s move should have little impact on industry, industry official told us. “It doesn’t make a lot of difference for a lot of people where their headquarters are,” source said. “The reality is, no one cares.”