Scottrade being acquired....we just can't seem to keep corporate HQ's in this area.... (St. Louis: sale, home)

[MUTGR]

article says will still keep presence here but will lose hundreds of jobs..


TD Ameritrade buying rival brokerage Scottrade for $4 billion; STL will lose hundreds of jobs | Business | stltoday.com

[Scottiegal]

Yep...terrible! Where will the scottrade workers go?

[DogtownBnR]

There are currently 1800. They will keep 500-1000 employees in STL. TD Ameritrade described it as a "large presence".


Hopefully, they keep the 1000. That will make it a bit easier to swallow. The good thing, is the fact that STL has a very robust financial services industry. These displaced workers, should be able to be absorbed locally. Large companies like Edward Jones, Stifel and Wells Fargo Advisors, are all headquartered here. Many others have a large presence. While losing Scottrade is a negative, many will be absorbed. Maybe some others will create new start-ups or use their skills to elevate existing start-ups or companies. Glass half full........

[FrankMiller]

It may depend partly on how many people they believe they can hire in Omaha.

[oneslip]

I would bet TD will reduce more than originally stated once the deal is complete. TD already has many of these same positions at their own headquarter facilities. I do hope the displaced Scottrade employees find a new co. quickly & easily but I am not hopeful as there are not a lot of open positions at the other firms.

[DogtownBnR]

One thing to keep in mind. After seeing the title of the thread, it seems to blame St. Louis. The sale had nothing to do with St. Louis or it's viability as a business/finance hub. Roger Riney, the majority owner announced last year that he has blood cancer. He is now 70+ years old. He likely felt this was a good time to cash out his business. While this is all disappointing and we all wish he would have sold to a local ownership or back to his employees, this again, has nothing to do with St. Louis not being able to keep HQ's. That has been the case with a lot of companies that have left. Buy-outs, poor decisions and takeovers are the main reason STL has lost so many HQs. While I think local leaders could do much more to keep businesses, much of this is out of our control.

[Hector2]

Originally Posted by DogtownBnR

One thing to keep in mind. After seeing the title of the thread, it seems to blame St. Louis. The sale had nothing to do with St. Louis or it's viability as a business/finance hub. Roger Riney, the majority owner announced last year that he has blood cancer. He is now 70+ years old. He likely felt this was a good time to cash out his business. While this is all disappointing and we all wish he would have sold to a local ownership or back to his employees, this again, has nothing to do with St. Louis not being able to keep HQ's. That has been the case with a lot of companies that have left. Buy-outs, poor decisions and takeovers are the main reason STL has lost so many HQs. While I think local leaders could do much more to keep businesses, much of this is out of our control.

Some have offered the theory that the general reservedness and conservative nature of our local culture has resulted in our local companies being less acquisitive than their peers. In other words, something about our culture leads us to be the sellers, not the buyers. I'm not taking a position on that, but I've heard it from time to time, certainly around the Inbev takeover.

[FrankMiller]

Originally Posted by Hector2

Some have offered the theory that the general reservedness and conservative nature of our local culture has resulted in our local companies being less acquisitive than their peers. In other words, something about our culture leads us to be the sellers, not the buyers. I'm not taking a position on that, but I've heard it from time to time, certainly around the Inbev takeover.

I think globalization plays a part, and that's going to always favor the bigger cities. There's no universe where St. Louis becomes a financial capital surpassing the New Yorks or Londons of the world.

In this particular case, I don't think the problem is St. Louis lacking in cutthroat and aggressive attitude compared to those sharks in Omaha.

Note that St. Louis metro is home to 19 of the Fortune 1000 (1.9%), and 1.1% of the US urban population, so I think we're doing alright.

[MOforthewin]

I guess this means Scottrade Center will be renamed eventually then. I say name it Kiel Center again, but no way that happens with all the money involved, someone else will plaster their names on it. Maybe the Inbev Arena or Monsanto or some BS like that.

Seriously, it would be cool if Trump bought the naming rights and Named in Trump Center or Trump Arena!

[DogtownBnR]

^ I think the deal with Scottrade has several more years left on the deal.
It will be renamed TD Ameritrade Center, until the naming rights deal expires.


After that, who knows!