Chicago's corporate exodus serves as backdrop to DNC

The Windy City has long been a major economic hub in the Midwest, but the city of Chicago has seen an exodus of corporations moving portions of their operations out of the city in recent years amid a difficult economic climate and concerns about crime.

A report by the Illinois Policy Institute last week chronicled the moves made by companies such as Boeing, Caterpillar, Citadel, Guggenheim Partners, TTX and Tyson Foods have moved their headquarters or significant parts of their presence in Chicago out of the city.

Two years ago, Chicago saw a wave of defections amid high crime rates and a business climate that showed no signs of improving.

Billionaire Ken Griffin, the founder of hedge fund Citadel, announced in 2022 that he would relocate most of the firm's operations to a new headquarters in Miami, with some team members heading to offices in New York or other locales around the world. 

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Griffin explained in a letter to employees that "Chicago will continue to be important to the future of Citadel, as many of our colleagues have deep ties to Illinois."

Griffin had previously told the Wall Street Journal that crime in Chicago was hampering Citadel's recruitment efforts in the city: "If people aren't safe here, they're not going to live here. I've had multiple colleagues mugged at gunpoint. I've had a colleague stabbed on the way to work. Countless issues of burglary. I mean, that's a really difficult backdrop with which to draw talent to your city from."

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Aerospace giant Boeing had its global headquarters in Chicago but in 2022 announced it would move the headquarters to Arlington, Virginia, though it said at the time it would maintain a "strong presence" in Chicago and the surrounding area.

Heavy equipment giant Caterpillar, which in 2017 announced it would move its headquarters from Peoria in central Illinois to the Chicago suburb of Deerfield, announced in 2022 that it would move its HQ again from Deerfield to Irving, Texas.

Later in 2022, Tyson Foods announced that it would move employees from Chicago and other locations to Arkansas.

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Last year, freight company TTX announced it would move its headquarters from Chicago to North Carolina, though it said at the time some employees could remain in Chicago and work remotely.

Some major companies that have remained in Chicago have been critical of the city's policies on crime and taxes, warning that if the trend continues it could force their hand.

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McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski said in 2022 following the departures of companies like Citadel and Caterpillar that "we can all agree their departure is not good news for our city."

"The facts haven't been especially kind to the city of Chicago as of late," Kempczinski said at the time. "The fact is that there are fewer large companies headquartered in Chicago this year than last year. There are fewer this month than last month."

He went on to say that "it's more difficult for me to recruit a new employee to McDonald's to join us in Chicago than it was in the past" which has made it more difficult to run a global business from the city.

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"Make no mistake, though, McDonald's commitment to the city of Chicago isn't corporate altruism. It's not open-ended. It's not unconditional. As a publicly traded company, our shareholders wouldn't tolerate that. They wouldn't support that," Kempczinski said.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange has also publicly mulled a departure from the Windy City, with CEO Terry Duffy warning last year the exchange could leave if the city or state government enact "ill-conceived" tax policies that hurt its business.