07/13/2010
Globalstar Announces Relocation Of Its Corporate Headquarters To Louisiana From California
Relocation of Globalstar from Silicon Valley
will create hundreds of new, high-paying professional
jobs
COVINGTON, La. -- Today, Gov. Bobby Jindal joined Globalstar
Inc. (NASDAQ: GSAT) CEO Peter Dalton, Globalstar Inc. Chairman Jay
Monroe, Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Stephen Moret, St.
Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis and Greater New Orleans Inc.
President and CEO Michael Hecht to announce Globalstar will
relocate its corporate headquarters to Covington, La., from
Milpitas, Calif. Additionally, Globalstar will relocate a variety
of other global business functions to Covington, including product
development, finance, accounting, sales, marketing, corporate
communications and customer care.
Under a cooperative endeavor agreement with LED, Globalstar has
committed to relocate or create more than 150 new jobs by the end
of 2011, increasing to more than 200 new jobs by 2013.
Additionally, the agreement calls for Globalstar's total Louisiana
employment to increase by more than 500 by the end of 2019. LED
estimates the direct new jobs will result in the creation of
approximately 800 new indirect jobs, for a total of roughly 1,300
new direct and indirect jobs in Louisiana. LED further estimates
the Globalstar project will result in $26.1 million in new, state
tax revenue and $8.3 million in new, local tax revenue over the
next 10 years.
"Today's announcement is a big win for Covington, the North
Shore and our whole state," said Gov. Jindal. "This is exactly the
kind of company that we positioned Louisiana to secure when we
created Louisiana FastStartTM in 2008 and enhanced our digital
media incentive program in 2009. Since early 2008, leading
companies have announced moves of their headquarters or other
significant operations to Louisiana from a wide variety of states,
including California, Georgia, Mississippi, Rhode Island, Virginia,
Wisconsin, Illinois, Oregon and Texas. And we're not stopping
there. With our nation still enduring tough economic times and our
state facing thousands of job losses associated with the federal
deepwater drilling moratorium, our efforts to retain and attract
jobs are more important than ever."
LED's Business Expansion and Retention Group began discussions
with Globalstar several months ago after the company purchased
Louisiana-based Axonn. Prior to selecting Louisiana for its new
headquarters location, Globalstar executives considered a variety
of locations in other U.S. states and Canada.
"Relocating to Covington will help dramatically reduce our
operating costs as we execute our next-generation strategic
initiatives," said Monroe. "We are positioning Globalstar for
long-term success by lowering our cost of operations, improving
revenue growth and speed to market for new products through
vertical integration and through the introduction of new and
innovative products developed in Louisiana. Thanks to LED's
progressive digital interactive media incentives and tax credits,
Globalstar can expect to benefit immediately and on an annual basis
well into the future. The Gulf region boasts much lower taxes and
employee cost of living compared with our former home in Silicon
Valley. Combined with the work ethic and resourcefulness of the
state's workforce, you have an extremely attractive environment for
innovative global companies such as ours."
"Today is a great day for Globalstar, our stockholders and
employees, and we are proud to call Covington and the state of
Louisiana our new home," said Dalton. "This move maximizes the
benefits of our recent acquisition of Covington based satellite
asset tracking and messaging products manufacturer Axonn and
creates in Globalstar the first and only vertically integrated
mobile satellite company. Physically relocating our product team to
work directly with the former Axonn engineers not only decreases
our pre-production costs but it will shorten the time to market for
our company's integrated wireless and satellite based products. We
considered relocating our headquarters to numerous states but the
overall advantages of moving here were simply too compelling to
ignore."
To secure the headquarters relocation, LED committed to provide
Globalstar with $4.4 million in performance-based financial
assistance to reimburse expected relocation costs, as well as $3.7
million in performance-based incentives to offset facility costs
for Globalstar's new headquarters and research and development
operations in Covington. Through Louisiana FastStart, LED will
provide customized workforce support to Globalstar, including
assistance with employee recruitment, screening, training
development and training delivery. In addition, Globalstar intends
to use LED's recently enhanced Digital Media Incentive.
"This is an exciting win for Louisiana not only because of the
new, high-paying jobs it will bring, but also because Globalstar is
in one of our top new target growth industries for Louisiana --
digital media," said Moret. "Silicon Valley doesn't have a monopoly
on innovation. Louisiana increasingly is being viewed as a great
place in which to base a company that requires creative talent.
This is only the beginning of an exciting new trend."
"We are extremely pleased to welcome Globalstar to Louisiana,
and specifically, to St. Tammany Parish," said Davis. "We have
created a business friendly climate in a unique area and are
pleased to be one of the anchors of technology in Louisiana's
economy. The people of Louisiana want to work, and we are glad
Globalstar is giving us this opportunity. Our goal to make our
entire region and Louisiana as a whole a nationally recognized
corridor of technology is something we strive to achieve every
day."
"Globalstar's move to Louisiana is significant not only in and
of itself, but also because it will announce to the world that
Greater New Orleans is a world-class location for high-technology
companies seeking a better business environment," said Hecht. "We
competed against locations around North America for this project,
and won due to our business conditions, lifestyle, leadership and
parish/region/state teamwork to get the deal done."
Globalstar Inc. (NASDAQ: GSAT) offers high quality, low-cost
satellite voice and data services to commercial and recreational
users from virtually anywhere in more than 120 countries around the
world. The company is one of only a limited number of companies in
the world that actually owns its constellation of satellites, and
has recently invested over $1.2 billion in procuring and deploying
a second generation of more modern satellites. Moreover, Globalstar
is the world's first Low Earth Orbiting global satellite voice and
data company that is on track to deliver and deploy a
second-generation satellite constellation, giving the company a
significant advantage over its competitors.
Established in 1991 and beginning commercial service in 1999,
Globalstar currently offers service in more than 120 countries, as
well as from most territorial waters and several mid-ocean regions.
Globalstar acquired Axonn in 2009, which provided Globalstar
ownership of Axonn's GPS tracking, messaging and other
data-transmission products.
