It’s not exactly the U.S. vs. China, but Tennessee and California may have their own economic war brewing.
The Bay Area exodus of tech companies to Middle America has at least one Golden State resident fed up, but Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said it’s not surprising that Nashville has been able to poach firms from Silicon Valley’s signature industry.
“As you may have read recently, there’s a lot of talk about movement from technology regions in other parts of the country, specifically California, into our state,” Lee said Tuesday. “There’s a reason for that: It’s because we are building the technology workforce, we are building the infrastructure for technology, but we also just have a way of life here that is attractive to people and they’re figuring it out more and more.”
Lee was speaking at an event announcing Tennessee’s latest catch — a 450-job account-management headquarters for San Francisco-based Pilot.com. Earlier in the day, California-based Mitsubishi announced that it's uprooting its North American headquarters to Franklin as part of an $18.25 million investment.
While Lee didn’t mention California Gov. Gavin Newsomby name, his comments came the same day the NBJ published a report from sister publication San Francisco Business Times, in which Newsom lashed out at the low-tax states, including Tennessee, that are wooing Golden State businesses.
California’s governor may have reason to be concerned, given that Pilot is just the latest in a long line of San Francisco tech firms that have looked to Nashville to expand operations.
Ridesharing service Lyft opened its Second Avenue office in 2015 and now employs more than 750 people, while online ticketing and registration company Eventbrite has 220 Nashville employees, making it the second-largest office in the company. Postmates Inc. recently signed a lease to occupy 100,000 square feet at MetroCenter that could bring as many as 1,000 new jobs. KeepTruckin, GoCheck Kids and Greenlight Medical are also San Francisco companies that have either opened offices or moved their headquarters to Music City.
The migration of businesses out of Silicon Valley has been spurred by that region’s expensive housing, growing traffic congestion, high cost of living and high tax burden. The Bay Area’s growing homelessness is also taking a toll on the region’s quality of life.
Perhaps California should raise taxes some more?
The Bay Area exodus of tech companies to Middle America has at least one Golden State resident fed up, but Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said it’s not surprising that Nashville has been able to poach firms from Silicon Valley’s signature industry.
“As you may have read recently, there’s a lot of talk about movement from technology regions in other parts of the country, specifically California, into our state,” Lee said Tuesday. “There’s a reason for that: It’s because we are building the technology workforce, we are building the infrastructure for technology, but we also just have a way of life here that is attractive to people and they’re figuring it out more and more.”
Lee was speaking at an event announcing Tennessee’s latest catch — a 450-job account-management headquarters for San Francisco-based Pilot.com. Earlier in the day, California-based Mitsubishi announced that it's uprooting its North American headquarters to Franklin as part of an $18.25 million investment.
While Lee didn’t mention California Gov. Gavin Newsomby name, his comments came the same day the NBJ published a report from sister publication San Francisco Business Times, in which Newsom lashed out at the low-tax states, including Tennessee, that are wooing Golden State businesses.
California’s governor may have reason to be concerned, given that Pilot is just the latest in a long line of San Francisco tech firms that have looked to Nashville to expand operations.
Ridesharing service Lyft opened its Second Avenue office in 2015 and now employs more than 750 people, while online ticketing and registration company Eventbrite has 220 Nashville employees, making it the second-largest office in the company. Postmates Inc. recently signed a lease to occupy 100,000 square feet at MetroCenter that could bring as many as 1,000 new jobs. KeepTruckin, GoCheck Kids and Greenlight Medical are also San Francisco companies that have either opened offices or moved their headquarters to Music City.
The migration of businesses out of Silicon Valley has been spurred by that region’s expensive housing, growing traffic congestion, high cost of living and high tax burden. The Bay Area’s growing homelessness is also taking a toll on the region’s quality of life.
Perhaps California should raise taxes some more?
