I hope if anyone on this board works for them, your job was spared and you get to stay here if that is your preference. Chicago? Really?
ConAgra...I did not see that coming.
- Thread starter litespeedhuskerfan
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Announcement so close to Christmas to. Corporate America can be so cruel. But seriously, Chicago? I mean if you were already there that's one thing, but I cannot imagine Chicago gives them anything they can't get in Omaha, plus they are already here? WTF is that even going to cost to do this? Maybe I am way off base here, but my opinion of Chicago is it's just another Baltimore or Detroit. Sorry if anyone here is from one of those two cities.
Rumors have been out there for a few months. Good friend is probably going to have to move. 75% higher housing costs in Chicago.
Since it is not about incentives, it all about the CEO who lives in Chicago area IMO.
I'm glad there will still be about 1200 employees staying in Omaha, but there's still a lot of people who are going to be losing jobs.
Since it is not about incentives, it all about the CEO who lives in Chicago area IMO.
I'm glad there will still be about 1200 employees staying in Omaha, but there's still a lot of people who are going to be losing jobs.
That process started in April when the new CEO was named. As the World Herald stated, it really ramped up when the Equity firm got board seats.
ConAgra will be vastly different in a year even from where they are today, unfortunately.
This is a crappy deal. Hopefully they take the 30 acre campus and develop it into something nice. Maybe another Aksarben Village/Midtown Crossing?
Heard on radio they will still use the campus, but won't need all the buildings.
I thought about that too. I think it'd look cool if they could build stuff all the way around the pond to the east of the campus and make it lool a little like San Antonio's River walk area, but not sure if that can be done.
That's a tough blow for the city and all the workers.
Hopefully they can make the best of it and rectify the destruction of Jobbers Canyon. An Old Market extending East to the river would be a great thing.
Hopefully they can make the best of it and rectify the destruction of Jobbers Canyon. An Old Market extending East to the river would be a great thing.
Tough to hear. I believe the move will not fully take place until summer 2016. My company works very closely with one of the major brands of Conagra and sells them millions of lbs of product every year. Their evolution in upper management has been in play for a while now, and it has had an effect on their day to day business operations.
Regarding the 1500 that are losing their jobs and/or the 700 employees that will be forced to move from Omaha to Chicago......damn that sucks. Hopefully the severance package is worthy. I hope the cost of living salary bumps are great as well, because the cost of housing and quality of housing here is going to be shocking to many. There are countless resumes being updated as we speak. The cost of living, the commute, the traffic, the people, the taxes, etc... Its all about to change for many families.
Regarding the 1500 that are losing their jobs and/or the 700 employees that will be forced to move from Omaha to Chicago......damn that sucks. Hopefully the severance package is worthy. I hope the cost of living salary bumps are great as well, because the cost of housing and quality of housing here is going to be shocking to many. There are countless resumes being updated as we speak. The cost of living, the commute, the traffic, the people, the taxes, etc... Its all about to change for many families.
Not surprising. This company needs to overhaul itself to survive. The reality is Omaha (and Eastern Nebraska by extension) just doesn't have a large enough base of the intelligent, dynamic talent necessary to complete this goal. The local universities, population are just not capable of providing that type of talent compared to an area like Chicago.
This is maybe the dumbest thing I've seen on this board in some time. Considering some of the posts in threads about our defense that is an accomplishment.
That is complete BS. None of the other fortune 500 companies located in Omaha seem to have this problem. Not exactly like ConAgra is a tech company.
Omaha is home to more Fortune 500 companies per capita than any major metro area in the nation.
Finding talent is not the issue. The new CEO of ConAgra is from Chicago (which has as much to do with the move as anything).
A
anon_umk0ifu6vj6zi
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Yep it is just shocking that Warren Buffet made himself into one of the wealthiest people in the world with his disadvantages of attending Nebraska and living his life in po dunk Omaha. Just don't know how the hell he did it?
There is no shortage of qualified people who would move to Omaha for a chance to work for ConAgra. None. That's assuming that is even the reason, which it isn't.
This is the big issue. When the mayor comes out and says this was not about "incentives" then this is about him as the CEO, wants the leadership of the company closer to him. JMHO.
If it were best for company to move to Chicago, then why will 1200 employees still remain in Omaha?
If this were true, I'd think the Governor would have called a special session of the Legislature to make tax concessions to keep them here, IMO, if that were necessary to be competitive. The governor got involved to see if it could be stopped, which he should.
Ha! Chicago is hardly "just another Baltimore or Detroit". But that has little to do with this story.
Arguably, Chicago is the top 2 or 3 cities in all of America.
For the record, ConAgra already has a strong presence in the Chicagoland area, so it's not like this is completely out of the blue.
Correct. If it were simply taxes, concessions would've been made long before now. It's much more nuanced than a simple text issue.
It's just too bad it came to this. It is my understanding that Con Agra over the past few years as a whole made some decisions that didn't work out. Now they lose a ton of money the last quarter, hire a new CEO with no ties to Omaha hoping to reverse their woes, and boom, a long time Omaha company is gone.
I am surprised about Chicago. The governments of Illinois and Chicago are in a world of hurt financially. The trend is for companies to leave the state, not turn to it. I follow a financial blogger, and his posts often bring up Chicago/Illinois' predicament since he lives there. Here are a few:
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2015/08/get-me-hell-out-of-here.html
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2015/09/chicago-tax-collector-hath-arrived-with.html
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2015/09/chicago-pmi-unexpectedly-dive-to.html
One would need some kind of blind fascination with Chicago to justify moving there. Apparently the new CEO has just that.
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2015/08/get-me-hell-out-of-here.html
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2015/09/chicago-tax-collector-hath-arrived-with.html
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2015/09/chicago-pmi-unexpectedly-dive-to.html
One would need some kind of blind fascination with Chicago to justify moving there. Apparently the new CEO has just that.
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I cannot place them in the top 2 or 3 cities, unless you are ranking corrupt cities. Then, you might just be #1 in that category.
But the Research and Development divisions are staying in Omaha. Hmmmmm.
Please tell us, professor, how ConAgra managed to get to Fortune 500 status and stay there with our lowly talent base? For that matter, how did we at one time have 7 Fortune 500 companies in a city the size of Omaha? We sure do have some overachieving talentless hacks here in our midst.
As has been mentioned previously...better to remain quiet and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt.
This has been no secret in the Omaha area. Talks about this change coming for the past 4-6 months have been widely talked about locally.
This is the same ConAgra that held the city of Omaha hostage in the late 80's to tear down some big, ugly red brick buildings (Jobber's Canyon) to build their campus.
This is the same ConAgra that held the city of Omaha hostage in the late 80's to tear down some big, ugly red brick buildings (Jobber's Canyon) to build their campus.
There are a lot of upset folks there. Lots of worry and anger over the move because information seemed to be the last to them every time when the CEO said he'd keep them in the know first. Feels like the plan all along to move and just finding ways to justify the pre made decision.
CAG will not be the same company within 3-4 years and I don't know that it will be a better company but certainly different. This was about the new stockholder getting their way and getting the way for the CEO. Hope they like the great deals in Chicago. Going to guess salaries and benefits will jump quite a bit because of the cost of living.
Certainly a different company mindset.
CAG will not be the same company within 3-4 years and I don't know that it will be a better company but certainly different. This was about the new stockholder getting their way and getting the way for the CEO. Hope they like the great deals in Chicago. Going to guess salaries and benefits will jump quite a bit because of the cost of living.
Certainly a different company mindset.
Venetian entertainment/hotel/casino. Oh wait... nevermind. They came, they saw, they like, we passed.
Thoughts for ConAg employees impacted by this. Bummer.
I've read no less than a half dozen stories about this online and in every article that allows comments, they are getting raked over the coals. Every single comment section eventually goes to how broke the city is, the corruption and violence, etc. Sweet move Con.
I don't have much ConAgra stock, but I sold it this morning. My own little protest.
completely agree with this.. my household has made a fairly drastic change away from processed foods over the past couple of years. All those darn food documentaries made an impact.
Just remember back to May of 1986, Enron had no plans to move and was evaluating all possibilities. Two weeks later, Ken Lay dropped the bomb on Omaha. Omaha loses 1,000 of 1,900 jobs and within a year they were all gone. This is what caused the state to change the tax structure to keep ConAgra from leaving and revitalized downtown Omaha.
Can't answer your question but I did hear, no idea if accurate though, that their current tax break ends in 2016. Again, I have no idea if that is accurate or not but if it's true - f*** ConAgra, I hope they fall flat on their face. TBQH, their product sucks anyways.
Omaha will take a hit initially but will be just fine.
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