Xerox’ headquarters in Norwalk, Connecticut
The OEM will remain in its site in Connecticut, with the state providing it with a multi-million dollar loan.
Hartford Courant reported that the OEM will receive a “low-interest state loan” from the state of Connecticut worth $4.4 million (€4.2 million), in order to “keep a majority of the information technology company in Norwalk as it splits”. The OEM announced at the beginning of this year that it planned to split into two companies before the end of the year, with the split into Conduent and Xerox – for business process optimisation and hardware respectively, and worth $11 billion (€10.1 billion) and $7 billion (€6.4 billion) respectively.
Xerox’ new CEO was revealed to be Jeff Jacobson, while Ashok Vemuri will run Conduent, and earlier in November, the OEM’s largest shareholder, who attempted to block the split, agreed a settlement in a court case. Darwin Deason had sued Xerox because of the spin-off of its document outsourcing business, as he felt that his shares would lose value after the split. However, during November, the OEM’s board approved the split and hoped it would take place by 31 December.
As part of the split, the OEM “may add 20 to 40 new jobs over the next four years”, with the company currently employing 150 staff at the site. The loan, which will be given over 10, years, “will help finance the purchase of equipment and improvements at the company’s Norwalk headquarters”, the site added. Conduent will relocate to New Jersey after the split, with Xerox remaining in Norwalk.
Dannel P. Malloy, Connecticut Governor, commented that “the Xerox Corporation’s announcement removes all uncertainty regarding the location of the company’s headquarters”, though the news site highlighted reporting from Wall Street Journal that Jacobson said “the company will have to lay off workers after the split”. Xerox has around 39,00 employees as of June 2016, but the new CEO “would not say how many jobs would be cut”.
Catherine Smith, Commissioner of Economic Development in Connecticut, said that state officials are “pretty confident” about the “job numbers cited in the deal”, adding that “I believe over time they will continue to grow”. Questioned on whether “she worried that Xerox would leave Connecticut and take all its jobs”, she pointed out “of course. I worry about every single one of them”.