| Company | Reuters |
| Deal closed | 5/8/1998 |
| Project Site | 3 Times Sq., 116 John, 9 Debrosses, 199 Water, 40 E 52, 1700 Bway, 747, 757, 875 3rd, 135 W 50th Manhattan |
| Competing Sites | ? |
| Maximum Subsidy | $26,004,500 |
|
$12,500,000 |
|
$13.5
million ($4,500/employee to a cap of $12,500,000 plus $1,000,000 in sales tax "recruitment" benefits) |
| Type(s) of City benefits | Sales tax exemptions |
| Benefits from New York State | As-of-right benefits worth an estimated $118 million over 20 years according to news accounts due to the project's location in the Times Square development zone. |
| Benefits Distributed to Date (according to LL69 Report FY 2002) | $1,959,000 |
| Promised Job Retention | 1,800 |
| Job recruitment | 150 |
| Projected job growth | 2,348 |
| Total Jobs | 4,298 |
| Jobs Reported in LL69 Report FY 2002 | 2,568 |
| Layoffs | ? |
| Length of Contract | 24 years |
| Project Purpose | Remain in Manhattan and build a corporate headquarters in Times Square. |
| Clawbacks? | Layoffs of over 3% can lead to proportional reduction in future benefits. Layoffs of over 17.5% can lead to permanent reduction in future benefits and possible agreement termination. Transfers out of the city of between 2% and 10% will cause remaining benefits to be reduced and trigger a recapture fee. Transfers of over 10% of employees will cause benefits to be terminated, trigger a recapture fee, and may terminate agreement. |
| Background/Since then |
There isn't consensus on the total value of
this deal. Charles A. Gargano said Reuters would get $36.9 million, while city officials said
the figure was $32 million and some developers and urban planners said it
was much higher (New York Times, 11/1/97). At the time of the deal, 600 union employees were negotiating a contract with Reuters. The company had asked for 104 concessions, union officials said. Peter Szekely, chairman of the Reuters unit of the Newspaper Guild in New York said, "The timing of this is incredible. The same week they’re asking us for monumental cuts in wages and benefits, they’re getting a sweetheart tax deal. Yet this company has been very profitable for a long time" (New York Times, 11/1/97). |
| Corporate Notes | Reuters provides information to financial services, media, and corporate markets. Over 90% of its revenue comes from financial services, rather than news production. |
| Comments |
"The tax break would be the second package of incentives that Reuters
would enjoy at the office tower in the middle of Times Square,"
according to the New York Times. "The site at the northwest corner of
42d Street and Seventh Avenue already has what many in real estate,
government and urban planning circles regard as the city's most extensive
tax breaks, worth an estimated $118 million over 20 years"
(10/17/97).
H. Claude Shostal, president of the Regional Plan Association, said "These deals allow corporations to make suckers out of the public sector. I can’t believe that Reuters wouldn’t have done this without the tax break." |
| A note on sources -- Information in this deal comes from GJNY's examination of project agreements obtained through Freedom of Information Law requests, as well as news reports, minutes and notes taken at board meetings, and communication with our allies. The entries are a work in progress. For more information about the documentation behind GJNY's database, or to let us know about any developments that are not yet reflected here, please contact us at gjny@ctj.org or (212) 414-9394. | |
| Date last updated: 2/4/04 | |