Dive Brief:
- Construction equipment giant Caterpillar has selected the Chicago suburb of Deerfield, IL, for its new headquarters, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
- The company will take over the offices of Beam Suntory, the maker of Jim Beam, and move approximately 100 employees to the new location after Beam relocates to the city of Chicago in June, according to the Chicago Tribune. Caterpillar expects to have approximately 300 employees working in the Deerfield office by mid-2018.
- Caterpillar announced its intention to move to the Chicago area at the end of January. The company said it wanted better access to its global clientele via O'Hare International Airport, as well as proximity to the city's younger, educated workforce.
Dive Insight:
The vast majority of Caterpillar's 12,000 employees will remain in Peoria, IL, where the company has maintained its headquarters for approximately 100 years.
Caterpillar is one of several companies that have moved to the Chicago area in the last few years as corporate America realizes it needs to be where the educated millennial workforce wants to be — near cities that provide a walkable, vibrant lifestyle. Chicago is a popular choice for those who desire that experience without the relatively higher cost of living in coastal markets like New York and Los Angeles.
Caterpillar is in the midst of several fiscal belt-tightening measures. Its fourth-quarter and year-end 2016 revenue was down $1.5 billion, even though its quarterly earnings performance exceeded expectations by 17 cents a share. The company also lowered its 2017 revenue estimates.
As a result of a few years of disappointing numbers, Caterpillar announced a $1.5 billion cost-cutting plan in September 2015, which included the termination of up to 10,000 workers and the shutdown of several plants, in addition to laying off thousands of overseas workers. Caterpillar also saw an executive shakeup after its CEO and Chairman Doug Oberhelman announced his resignation and left the company at the end of 2016.
