North Cook News

Illinois' wealthiest man, billionaire Ken Griffin, recently announced that he will be relocating the headquarters of his hedge fund firm Citadel from Chicago to Miami, citing rising violence throughout the city and the tax benefits Florida offers as the reasons for his decision. 

Griffin is among the 50 wealthiest people in the world, with an estimated worth of $28.9 billion, a recent MarketWatch report said. His announcement was the third in the last two months of major companies pulling their headquarters out of Illinois. Citadel officials cited Chicago's high crime rate as a factor in Griffin's decision.

“Chicago will continue to be important to the future of Citadel, as many of our colleagues have deep ties to Illinois,” Griffin said in a letter to employees, quoted by MarketWatch. “Over the past year, however, many of our Chicago teams have asked to relocate to Miami, New York and our other offices around the world.” 

Illinois state Rep. Tom Morrison (R-Palatine) weighed in on the current exodus of businesses leaving the state, telling the North Cook News that he was saddened by the news but not surprised. He blamed the State's poor economic policies and high taxes along with the soaring rates of crime in Chicago for the rising number of companies that are choosing to take their business out of Illinois. 

"Almost 10 years ago, Caterpillar's CEO had warned that Illinois policies were on the wrong track and would hurt the state's long-term prospects,” Morrison told the News. "Illinois governors and a majority of legislators ignored the warnings, refused real reforms, and doubled down on the bad policy. Citadel and Ken Griffin were among Chicago's most generous corporate and individual benefactors. Again, a lack of any real reform on state fiscal policy added to an increasingly violent and chaotic environment in Chicago's downtown area seemed to be the final straw.

"Chicago and Illinois as a whole have so many natural advantages, but bad public policy keeps pushing individuals and businesses to seek greener pastures elsewhere. State lawmakers have to listen to the private sector leaders who run small, medium, and large businesses. They tell us what is wrong with Illinois, and what is right in the states that are drawing businesses away. If Illinois' private sector is weak, inevitably the public sector/public services will suffer, as well as revenues dry up. Citizens will face increased taxes at the same time public services get worse."

Caterpillar recently announced that it is going to relocate its headquarters from Deerfield, Ill., to Irving, Texas; a press release from the company said.

“We believe it’s in the best strategic interest of the company to make this move, which supports Caterpillar’s strategy for profitable growth as we help our customers build a better, more sustainable world,” Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Jim Umpleby said in the release.

Boeing announced in May that it is relocating its headquarters from Chicago to a suburb of Washington, D.C., NBC Chicago reported.

“We are excited to build on our foundation here in Northern Virginia," Boeing President and CEO Dave Calhoun said in a statement, quoted in the NBC Chicago report. "The region makes strategic sense for our global headquarters given its proximity to our customers and stakeholders, and its access to world-class engineering and technical talent."

Chief Executive magazine conducted a survey of approximately 700 business owners from every state and ranked Illinois 48th overall, meaning it is the third-worst state in the country for business; The Center Square reported recently. Only California and New York were ranked lower than Illinois. Texas, Florida and Tennessee were ranked as the top states for doing business. 

“We’re too corrupt,” Wirepoints president Ted Dabrowski told The Center Square. “Our taxes are way too high. We have way too many regulations and we have massive debts, and that is plenty of reason enough for companies to not want to locate in Illinois, not to mention the state is shrinking in population so it's not a growth state to put your business in.”