Caterpillar Inc. decided to find a new home in the Chicago area in Illinois. The announcement is a huge shock given that the company was initially planning to build a new headquarters complex in Peoria.
As reported by Chicago Sun-Times, Caterpillar was originally considering putting up a new building in Peoria. The headquarters complex would have represented Caterpillar's success given that it is not easy and cheap to construct a new building.
It appears that charges and increased restructuring cost had recently hit Caterpillar's earnings more than expected. The company recently announced that it suffered significant losses during the fourth quarter of 2016.
The announcement appears to have been made prematurely considering that Caterpillar has not really made any decision as to the exact location of the new headquarters.
The company acknowledged that it still has to choose the exact spot for the new location, Chicago Tribune reported. The mining and construction equipment manufacturer plans to relocate about 300 of its employees to the headquarters.
While the location is new, Caterpillar disclosed that it has no plans to construct a new building and buy land for the headquarters. The equipment manufacturer would instead rent some space in an existing building.
The new plan is less glamorous than the previous aim of Caterpillar to create a new headquarters complex in Peoria. However, it appears that it has been made with the equipment manufacturer's future in mind.
Caterpillar's board and management have considered that a more accessible location would be a more viable choice for its new headquarters. While it is not yet clear whether the company is moving in Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel praised the announcement because it could mean more jobs for his constituents.
In 2016, Jobs & Hire reported that Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) was also mulling a change of headquarters location.
