Electrolux agrees to pay taxes on Memphis factory
Officials say Swedish appliance maker Electrolux has agreed to pay taxes on a factory the company has decided to shut down in Memphis.
Electrolux said Thursday that it plans to stop production within two years at its Memphis factory while investing $250 million to consolidate U.S. cooking manufacturing into its Springfield, Tennessee facility.
Memphis, Shelby County and the state gave about $150 million in financial incentives to Electrolux for the factory. Electrolux once said it would employ 1,200 people at the factory, which opened in 2014 and makes ovens.
Incentives included a 15-year property tax abatement program. Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said officials met with Electrolux and the company agreed to pay the “full taxable amount.” The amount was not disclosed.
Amazon won’t use tax breaks in NYC
Amazon will not take advantage of a federal program offering massive tax breaks when it builds headquarters in New York City.
The internet shopping giant told the New York City Council this week that it had no plans to directly benefit from the Opportunity Zone program offering cuts on federal capital gains taxes as a way to spur development in downtrodden areas. Parts of the Long Island City neighborhood, including the site of Amazon planned offices, were designated as one of 8,700 high-unemployment, low-income zones around the country that qualify for the new tax incentives under the 2017 federal tax overhaul.
While Amazon doesn’t intend to tap the tax breaks, developers and investment funds associated with headquarters could still do so.
Some critics say the Opportunity Zone program is badly designed because Long Island City and many other zones are already gentrifying and would have attracted private investment without the breaks.
Media companies cutting 1,700 jobs
Vice Media is cutting 250 jobs globally as it seeks to achieve profitability. It is the latest round of layoffs as the media industry contracts.
The cuts affect about 10 percent of Vice’s 2,500 staff, said company spokeswoman Danielle Carrig. But she said Vice plans to add jobs as well in departments including sales and digital news as it focuses on its units with potential for growth.
The media industry has been facing a wave of layoffs as Facebook and Google gobble up the bulk of digital advertising dollars.
Also on Friday, newspaper publisher McClatchy said it will offer voluntary buyouts to 13 percent of its staff, about 450 people.
Digital media company BuzzFeed said last week it is cutting 200 people. Verizon is cutting about 800 jobs in its media division, which includes Yahoo and HuffPost.
Vice has grown from a Canadian magazine to a global media company based in New York. Some news outlets reported last year that the privately held company instituted a hiring freeze and might seek a reduction in staff through attrition, but that was not confirmed.
British firms eye moving over Brexit
LONDON – Nearly a third of U.K. firms may shift their operations abroad because of Britain’s pending departure from the European Union, a survey of 1,200 company directors suggested Friday, as the political stalemate over a Brexit deal heightened jitters among businesses.
The survey by the Institute of Directors, an employers’ group, found that 16 percent of businesses already had relocation plans while a further 13 percent were “actively considering” a move. Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29.