CATERPILLAR PULLS UP HEADQUARTERS STAKES AND HEADS FOR TEXAS
In a blow to the prestige of the Illinois economy, Caterpillar said Tuesday it is moving its headquarters from Deerfield to Irving, Texas.
The maker of construction and mining equipment has called Illinois home since its founding in Peoria in 1925. Its headquarters remained there until 2017 when it moved to Deerfield. The company said it will start transitioning its 230 headquarters employees to Texas this year.
“We believe it’s in the best strategic interest of the company to make this move, which supports Caterpillar’s strategy for profitable growth as we help our customers build a better, more sustainable world,” Chairman and CEO Jim Umpleby said in a brief news announcement.
Caterpillar said Illinois will continue to have its largest concentration of employees. It has more than 107,000 employees worldwide.
The company said it has had operations in Texas since the 1960s.
Its announcement comes almost six weeks after another marquee name in Chicago-area business, Boeing, said it was moving its headquarters from Chicago to Arlington, Virginia, although it said many corporate workers would remain here.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he was disappointed by Caterpillar’s decision while addressing critics of the state’s business climate. Pritzker said the move involves 240 headquarters employees but Caterpillar put the number at 230.
“We will continue to support the 17,400 Illinoisans who work for the company in East Peoria, Mapleton, Mossville, Pontiac and Decatur
— which remains Caterpillar’s largest manufacturing plant in North America after the company’s recent expansion,” Pritzker said in a statement issued by his office.
He said that despite the news, Illinois, with its largest population ever, is spawning more small businesses than other large states.
Caterpillar also lists offices or other Illinois operations in Peoria, Aurora, Morton and Edwards.
Texas is one of seven states with no individual income tax, according to the Washington, D.C.,-based Tax Foundation.
Irving is near Dallas. Its success at luring Caterpillar could be seen as payback for Chicago’s victory in 2001 when Boeing moved here after a tense, incentive-laden competition with Dallas-Fort Worth and Denver.
Caterpillar spokeswoman Kate Kenny said the company neither requested nor is getting state or local incentives in Texas. She did not respond when asked to elaborate on the reasons behind the move.