Company Capital Cities/ABC Inc.
Date Announced 6/22/1994
Site 147 Columbus Avenue
Total Subsidy $26 million

Amount tied to job creation

 $1.2 million
Promised Job Creation 185
Promised Job Retention 3,700
Length of Contract 15 years
Competing Sites none
Conditions The subsidy agreement with the New York City Industrial Development Authority  includes "substantial recapture provisions" if the company fails to meet job creation targets (Press release, June 22, 1994, Press Offices of Governor Cuomo and Mayor Giuliani).
Notes This incentive package to ABC included $12 million in sales tax breaks and $14 million in energy savings. It came after similar deals with media firms including NBC, Bertelsmann and CBS and was followed by subsidies to numerous other media companies -- some of which came back for seconds, including NBC, CBS, Rupert Murdoch's News America and Time Warner.
Corporate Notes ABC merged with Capital Cities Communications, Inc. in 1986 and was acquired by Disney in 1996.
Critics
A note on sources -- or why many of these profiles appear incomplete. They are. Good Jobs New York compiled the numbers in these profiles from press releases and news accounts of the deals. Unfortunately, more detailed information on these subsidies is very difficult to obtain -- even though it should be readily available to the public. In many cases, neither the company nor the city nor state released certain information, particularly the terms of the agreement, i.e., the conditions which the company had to meet in order to receive the subsidy. It should also be noted that the value of the subsidy may not end up being equal to the value estimated at the time of the agreement. And it should not be assumed that the actual number of jobs retained and created will be the same as the numbers predicted.

Because the public deserves easy access to information about how taxpayer dollars are being spent, Good Jobs New York will update these profiles as we uncover more information.

Good Jobs New York  - May 25, 2001