Atlanta Economic Development Thread

[atlwarrior]

Per The Atlanta Business Chronicle,
Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: APPL) has tapped Morehouse College as one of 10 new locations for the company's coding and creativity education initiative. The Cupertino, Cali.-based tech giant is teaming up with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to expose more African Americans to technology training and certification opportunities.

“We are excited to be partnering with Apple as a new hub in this important coding initiative at HBCUs,” said David A. Thomas, president of Morehouse College. “This partnership will help Morehouse grow its profile as a leader in tech training, and create opportunities for minorities to develop new coding skills that could bring them lucrative jobs."

[Ric 0_0]

Aaron's, Inc. (the "Company") (NYSE: AAN), a leading omnichannel provider of lease-purchase solutions, today announced that it intends to separate into two independent, publicly-traded companies: Progressive Leasing ("Progressive") and the Aaron's Business ("Aaron's"). Both companies are expected to benefit from improved strategic focus, market-leading positions, strong free cash flow generation and well-capitalized balance sheets, enabling each to unlock substantial value creation opportunities. The separation is planned as a tax-free spin-off of Aaron's to the Company's shareholders and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Progressive: With approximately $2.2 billion of revenue in 2019, Progressive will be comprised of the Company's current Progressive business segment as well as Vive Financial.

Aaron's: With approximately $1.8 billion of revenue in 2019, Aaron's will be comprised of approximately 1,400 company-operated and franchised stores in 47 U.S. states and Canada, the e-commerce platform Aarons.com, and Woodhaven Furniture Industries ("Woodhaven").

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/aarons-inc-announces-intent-separate-111000854.html

[Ric 0_0]

After the rumor of ICE wanting to acquire EBay, it looks like the company has struck a different target.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE), a leading operator of global exchanges and clearing houses and provider of mortgage technology, data and listing services, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Ellie Mae®, the leading cloud-based platform provider for the mortgage finance industry. The transaction with Ellie Mae, a portfolio company of Thoma Bravo, a leading private equity investment firm, values Ellie Mae at approximately $11 billion. The deal, following ICE’s taking a majority stake in MERS in 2016, purchasing the remainder in 2018, and acquiring Simplifile in 2019, establishes ICE, through its growing ICE Mortgage Services network, as the leading provider of end-to-end electronic workflow solutions serving the evolving U.S. residential mortgage industry.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/2...nters-Definitive-Agreement-Acquire-Ellie

[shivtim]

Papa Johns headquarters moving to Atlanta next year
Some functions will stay in Louisville, but 200 jobs are expected to move to Atlanta.
"It hasn’t selected a location but has looked at space in Midtown and in the Battery and Galleria areas of Cobb County. Papa John’s will likely invest about $10 million in the move and its headquarters build-out, Lynch said."

[Ric 0_0]

Atlanta-based Inspire Brands officially announced its purchase of Dunkin Brands Friday for just over $11.3 billion.
Dunkin' Brands owns Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins and the sale will make Inspire one of the largest restaurant companies in the world.
Once the sale goes through, Inspire will own some 32,000 restaurants in more than 60 countries with almost 600,000 employees. Dunkin' and Baskin-Robbins will continue operating as their own brands in the combined company.


https://www.wsbtv.com/news/atlanta-based...U62R6HZZEXVIQC6VNVYNXWQQ/?outputType=amp

[atlHawks]

Originally Posted by Ric 0_0

Atlanta-based Inspire Brands officially announced its purchase of Dunkin Brands Friday for just over $11.3 billion.
Dunkin' Brands owns Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins and the sale will make Inspire one of the largest restaurant companies in the world.
Once the sale goes through, Inspire will own some 32,000 restaurants in more than 60 countries with almost 600,000 employees. Dunkin' and Baskin-Robbins will continue operating as their own brands in the combined company.


https://www.wsbtv.com/news/atlanta-based...U62R6HZZEXVIQC6VNVYNXWQQ/?outputType=amp

Nice. Hopefully this merger will create some new jobs in Atlanta.

[Ric 0_0]

Home Depot Inc (HD.N) said on Monday it would buy HD Supply Holdings Inc (HDS.O) in a deal valued at about $8 billion, setting itself up to regain control over the industrial materials wholesaler after spinning it off over a decade ago.

Home Depot, which sold HD Supply in 2007 for $8.5 billion to Bain Capital, Carlyle Group and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, said it will fund the buy back through a combination of cash and debt.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN27W1MO

[Sura]

I like the sunshine they're pumping.

Long link, Bizjournal article

Despite rising cases of COVID-19 in Georgia, the recession brought on by the pandemic was one of the shortest on record, and according to economists, it is practically a thing of the past. The recovery, meanwhile, is underway.

“Absent another lockdown, the COVID-19 recession is over,” said Benjamin C. Ayers, dean of the Terry College of Business.

On Dec. 3, the University of Georgia released its 38th annual Georgia Economic Outlook. The report showed the pandemic did less damage to Georgia’s economy than to the nation as a whole, and that a full, state-level recovery will arrive sooner than in the broader U.S.

“In Georgia, there’s less economic debris to clean up,” Ayers said during the virtual presentation live-streamed on YouTube. “In addition, many of the factors that caused Georgia to outperform prior to the pandemic are reasserting themselves.”

Factors that will likely fuel Georgia’s rebound include consumer spending, Federal Reserve fiscal policy, above-average population growth, a strong housing market and a packed pipeline of economic development projects.

In fact, nine of the 10 largest economic development projects announced in the first half of 2020 happened after the COVID-19 shutdown, Ayers said.

If a vaccine is widely distributed and accepted, Georgia’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth could reach 4% by the middle of next year, Ayers said. The national projection is 3.5%.

Georgia’s unemployment rate will drop from 6% to 5.1% in 2021, according to the outlook. It was 3.4% in 2019. Personal income could see smaller gains as federal coronavirus assistance winds down by the end of this year.

The forecast assumes that an effective COVID-19 vaccine will be widely available by mid-2021. That will push the peak of the economic recovery into the third and fourth quarters.

Despite many promising indicators, Georgia and the United States still face considerable headwinds, including public anxiety over the coronavirus, depressed demand for many services – like restaurant dining and movie theaters – and slow wage growth.

“We are in the second phase of the recovery currently, which is an extended period of choppy economic growth that will linger until an effective vaccine is widely available,” Ayers said. “It’s going to be a slog to get back to a period of steady, above-average economic growth.”

[NYbyWAYofGA]

Originally Posted by Sura

I like the sunshine they're pumping.

Long link, Bizjournal article

Yea, at the expense of lives lost....

[Sura]

Originally Posted by NYbyWAYofGA

Yea, at the expense of lives lost....

At least we're not New York

[OTPandProud1974]

Originally Posted by Sura

At least we're not New York

Ironically, sprawl had its benefits in this case.

[NYbyWAYofGA]

Originally Posted by Sura

At least we're not New York

We will be alright. We were one of the first hit and thanks to Cuomo, we got it under control. We are truly lucky to have him. He's not only handsome, but smart and funny.

[NYbyWAYofGA]

Originally Posted by OTPandProud1974

Ironically, sprawl had its benefits in this case.

In this particular case. On the other hand, rural areas and sparsely populated states are being hardest hit now. This COVID does not discriminate....

[montydawg]

Originally Posted by NYbyWAYofGA

We will be alright. We were one of the first hit and thanks to Cuomo, we got it under control. We are truly lucky to have him. He's not only handsome, but smart and funny.

I have to defend New York on this one.

Looking at the google maps covid 19 ‘layer’, I see New York City has an infection rate of 26%, whereas Fulton county has an infection rate of 29%. People are also taking it very seriously, at least in Manhattan. Statin island and some parts of queens and Brooklyn are a different story, and unfortunately the google maps stats show ‘county’ infection rate, and you can’t see a more detailed view to show the stats at the neighborhood level anymore.

[Libertarian]

A better measure is deaths per million, not infection rates which vary widely depending on testing frequency and effectiveness. Don't know about Fulton but the last time I checked the NYC death rate was 10 times higher than Gwinnett.

[Atlriser]

I disagree! Deaths per million is misleading for places that were infected early in the outbreak. Survivability has increased drastically since the first few months of the outbreak due to increasing understanding and treatments.

[Libertarian]

Certainly deaths is imprecise, but is a more objective measure if comparing different jurisdictions operating under various testing methods and data collection. And yes, trends are critical whatever the statistical benchmarks.

[NYbyWAYofGA]

Originally Posted by Libertarian

Certainly deaths is imprecise, but is a more objective measure if comparing different jurisdictions operating under various testing methods and data collection. And yes, trends are critical whatever the statistical benchmarks.

Also, let's not discount the long term implications of being infected by this novel virus. Sure, the survival rates may have increased, but what are the long term effects of this thing on the body? Seems like everyday, they are finding some new second hand illness related to Covid infection. It's certainly something that you do not want to get if you can prevent it.

[Libertarian]

This may be a good model for Atlanta and other cities as well as NY
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...t-Midtown-Manhattan-offices-housing.html

[NYbyWAYofGA]

Originally Posted by Libertarian

This may be a good model for Atlanta and other cities as well as NY
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...t-Midtown-Manhattan-offices-housing.html

Meanwhile, my they are bustin their balls and lickin at the chops to get our office back up and running. I hate to say it, but it's been kind of satisfying watching this play out, from a space usage perspective. Maybe it's the introvert in me....