| Company | CBS (second package) |
| Date Announced | 1/28/1999 |
| Site | Avenue of the Americas @ 51st |
| Total Subsidy | $10 million |
|
??? |
| Promised Job Creation | ??? |
| Promised Job Retention | ??? |
| Length of Contract | 20 years |
| Competing Sites | Jersey City, N.J. |
| Conditions | Agreed to keep corporate offices in Manhattan (now at 51st St. and Avenue of the Americas). |
| Notes | This case appears to be an extreme example of money for nothing, since the company's threat to relocate was virtually nonexistent. "Real-estate developers and economic development officials in Jersey City said they doubted that CBS was serious about relocating," according to the New York Times, and Laurence A. Tisch, then the chairman of CBS, told the paper "We never threatened to leave the city, I just wanted us to be treated like everyone else" (New York Times, 1/29/99). |
| Corporate Notes | After receiving a $49 million subsidy in 1993, CBS acquired Infinity Broadcasting and American Radio Systems. CBS was acquired by Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1996 and merged with cable/movie/publishing conglomerate Viacom in 2000. That merger formed the world's second largest media corporation after Time Warner. Viacom reaped its own $15 million subsidy deal in 1994. |
| Critics | "There are no standards" for granting these subsidies, charges City Council member Ronnie Eldridge, whose West Side District includes the CBS studios. "They're just giving away benefits to large companies. If we were as tough on corporations as we are on poor people, the city would have more to spend on schools, bridges and subways" (New York Times, 1/29/99). |
| 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 |
|