Atlanta’s SunTrust to merge with BB&T, shift HQ to Charlotte (Sandy Springs: apartments, lease)
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Increably misleading post, having a bank HQ does not make a city a financial hub
Dallas and Houston are not financial hubs, Dallas largest is Comerica is 41st largest bank $71B, Houston Prosperity Bancshares is $22.
SunTrust Banks is 17 with $211B
BB&T is 16 with $222B
To put in more prospective Charlotte Bank of America 2nd is $2,338B
Cities like NeW York, Charlotte, SF have mutiple Banks with over 100B in assets and even 1,000B. then was cities like Boston, Minneapolis Atlanta "before merger" had banks with 100B in assets. Calling Dallas 71B a finance hub is misleading to how significant the actual hubs are.
What this merger does speak volumes how fragile the is., If Atlanta a city that have the 17 largest bank, with more assets than double Houston and Dallas combine is merging with another bank. What does that say about how fragile the prospects are for Dallas and Houston. At any monument is a larger Bank deem it worth it they try buying out another.
I think in general the country is going down the wrong path with allowing all these mergers.
Banking is not the only metric for being a financial hub. Plenty of other companies in the industry beside banks.
All the decisions are made and key players are in Dallas. Just as will be for Suntrust in Charlotte. You brought up another name really along the same line - CNN. The top people at all these companies simply don't or can't or won't stay in Atlanta. Suntrust says it can't due to the opportunity. AT&T says it wouldn't, and CNN says it doesn't want to.
I really can't blame any of them since the quality of life is so bad here in so many areas.
I said that I'd take the jobs over a few executives being based here for bragging rights. It's been explained that Suntrust's relocation is a business decision not based on a downvote on what Atlanta has to offer, and there will still be a significant number of jobs, which is what really matters in maintaining the vibrancy of downtown.
As for AT&T, it's undergoing a massive change because of various headwinds in the telecom industry as the old hardline part of the business winds down, but the brightest part of the industry for AT&T is headquartered here with AT&T Mobility and to a lesser degree Cricket Wireless. I'll admit that the vacating of the tower in Midtown feels like a loss, but that'll leave room for the next big corporation to relocate to.
CNN has its issues, and it has more to do with its current president, Jeff Zucker, who is a creature of the Manhattan media scene than anything else. There are some top executives in Atlanta who will never move to NYC if they can help it. CNN Digital, which is by leaps and bounds the #1 news platform in the world, is based here along with CNN International and CNN Español. Most of CNN's viewers around the world associates CNN with Atlanta. If the FCC forces AT&T to sell off CNN to complete the Time Warner merger, who knows what will happen? Zucker could be out and the next person may decide to shift more people to Atlanta. At the end of the day, there are more CNN employees in Atlanta than NYC.
When it comes to quality of life, you're really trying to start something because there are times when it feels like half of NYC, LA and Chicago have relocated here for a better quality of life. I'm not saying Atlanta doesn't have its issues, but for my friends who are trying to raise kids along with navigating a career in corporate America, this is probably one of the best cities to do that. You may have to send your kids to private school, but that's affordable compared to getting a mortgage in a lot of those cities.
...and there will still be a significant number of jobs, which is what really matters in maintaining the vibrancy of downtown...
Who said there will still be a "significant number of jobs" and who said they will be downtown?
Quote:
As for AT&T, it's undergoing a massive change because of various headwinds in the telecom industry as the old hardline part of the business winds down, but the brightest part of the industry for AT&T is headquartered here with AT&T Mobility and to a lesser degree Cricket Wireless. I'll admit that the vacating of the tower in Midtown feels like a loss, but that'll leave room for the next big corporation to relocate to.
Just as a correction, since the TimeWarner merger, AT&T Mobility has been absorbed into the DirectTV / U-Verse division, based in California. Most of the space at the former HQ here has been vacated.
CNN has its issues, and it has more to do with its current president, Jeff Zucker, who is a creature of the Manhattan media scene than anything else. There are some top executives in Atlanta who will never move to NYC if they can help it. CNN Digital, which is by leaps and bounds the #1 news platform in the world, is based here along with CNN International and CNN Español. Most of CNN's viewers around the world associates CNN with Atlanta. If the FCC forces AT&T to sell off CNN to complete the Time Warner merger, who knows what will happen? Zucker could be out and the next person may decide to shift more people to Atlanta.
So just to get a few facts straight:
1. All of Turner's senior management is based in either NYC or LA (not just CNN's). Some like to thumb their nose at this for whatever reason, but it is really not a positive thing for Atlanta. The AJC had a great article that delved into this.
2. Part of the reason so many CNN jobs remain in Atlanta
is because their NY studio is over capacity and can't fit any more people. But they're currently building a massive studios in Hudson Yards. I have no doubt in my mind once it's compete, even more people will shift there. They've even started broadcasting parts of CNN Espanol and CNN International out of NYC.
The *only* reason HLN remains in Atlanta is because Robin Meade is a HUGE "ride or die" Atlanta booster and she told Zucker she would only move to NYC over her dead body.
Same thing was the case with Brooke Baldwin (also an Atlanta native) for some time, but she eventually caved and was amongst the last of the mainline staff to also leave Atlanta.
3. The merger is already complete and CNN remains a part of AT&T. But given all of the aforementioned decisions were made under TimeWarner management, who knows what AT&T has planned.
That said, I've made it clear that I'm not a Jeff Zucker fan. I've heard from a lot of CNN employees that he's very difficult to work with (he's never seen a programming suggestion that he likes) and the collapse of NBC under his leadership proves how incompetent he is. He is also entirely responsible for CNN becoming the Anti-Trump News Network and politics all the time under his tenure (same thing occurred with MSNBC when he was there).
IMO, he needs to go ASAP.
Last edited by citidata18; 02-10-2019 at 05:27 AM..
Dallas is home to Comerica Bank, as well as the financial divisions for GE and GM. It's also home to several notable lending institutions (Hilltop Holdings, CashAmerica, Caliber Home Loans, etc.).
Even Houston is home to Prosperity Bancshares and Amergy Bank.
Atlanta's practically in a league of its own (not a good one) at this point without a major bank HQ and little in the way of a banking/finance industry (unless you count the Federal Reserve), other than maybe Seattle.
Chicago, Dallas and Houston all lost out in financial services in the 80s and 90s. Chicago had several big banks acquired. Dallas and Houston had all their major banks acquired or fail during the 80s oil bust. Texas lost 9 of its top 10 banks, all but Frost in San Antonio. North Carolina had their big banks acquire others. A lot of it has been random chance of which banks succeeded.
But the reality is that NY and San Francisco and Charlotte are financial centers. Chicago, Dallas and Houston lost their status as significant financial centers. Atlanta is now losing its piece.
With this merger, there are 8 NY area banks in the top 15, 2 San Francisco, 2 Charlotte plus one each in Minneapolis, Pittsburgh and DC.
1. All of Turner's senior management is based in either NYC or LA (not just CNN's). Some like to thumb their nose at this for whatever reason, but it is really not a positive thing for Atlanta. The AJC had a great article that delved into this.
2. Part of the reason so many CNN jobs remain in Atlanta
is because their NY studio is over capacity and can't fit any more people. But they're currently building a massive studios in Hudson Yards. I have no doubt in my mind once it's compete, even more people will shift there. They've even started broadcasting parts of CNN Espanol and CNN International out of NYC.
The *only* reason HLN remains in Atlanta is because Robin Meade is a HUGE "ride or die" Atlanta booster and she told Zucker she would only move to NYC over her dead body.
Same thing was the case with Brooke Baldwin (also an Atlanta native) for some time, but she eventually caved and was amongst the last of the mainline staff to also leave Atlanta.
3. The merger is already complete and CNN remains a part of AT&T. But given all of the aforementioned decisions were made under TimeWarner management, who knows what AT&T has planned.
What's funny is that you could've changed Atlanta to Charlotte and CNN to BOA and the argument would be extremely similar.
It's obvious that a few people here have little experience with living in other cities or at least keeping up with what's going on in them when the insinuation is made that Atlanta's business/corporate issues are unique to Atlanta but other cities can boast many of Atlanta's successes and then some without any of its disadvantages or failures.
Or it could be something very close to the term that rhymes with 'polling.'
With the collapse of SunTrust plaza, I really struggle to see why exactly anyone needs to go to downtown proper anymore. Almost all of the jobs I see are now midtown, Buckhead, or Sandy Springs. Downtown is in serious trouble.
With the collapse of SunTrust plaza, I really struggle to see why exactly anyone needs to go to downtown proper anymore. Almost all of the jobs I see are now midtown, Buckhead, or Sandy Springs. Downtown is in serious trouble.
^ This ^
Sualpine is right.
Even though it is the second-tallest building in the state of Georgia, and the consolidated SunTrust/BB&T bank will maintain a significant level of operations in Atlanta, SunTrust Plaza is going to completely collapse and be totally worthless. NO ONE is clearly going to want to occupy the second-tallest skyscraper in the most important metropolitan area in the Southeastern U.S.
Also, even though Downtown Atlanta is home to the third-largest convention center in North America (Georgia World Congress Center), the brand-spanking-new Mercedes-Benz Stadium (where the NFL Atlanta Falcons and the MLS Champion Atlanta United play, where the Super Bowl was just played, where college football playoff and national championship games are played, and where the NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four will be played in 2020, etc.), the newly-renovated State Farm Arena, AmericasMart, Georgia-Pacific Headquarters, CNN Center, Centennial Olympic Park, a large installation of federal government offices and facilities, a large installation of state government offices and facilities (including the Georgia State Capitol), a large installation of local government facilities (including Atlanta City Hall and the Fulton County Courthouse), Georgia State University, the Georgia Aquarium, the College Football Hall of Fame, the World of Coca-Cola, the Hotel District, the Center for Civil and Human Rights, Apex Museum, the Children's Museum of Atlanta, dozens of restaurants, nightclubs, Grady Hospital, etc., etc., NO ONE clearly needs to or wants to go to Downtown Atlanta anymore, especially since Downtown Atlanta was a desolate ghost town that was in extremely serious trouble even before the news of the SunTrust/BB&T merger.
There is nothing, and I mean NOTHING in Downtown Atlanta except tumbleweeds and all completely abandoned buildings. There are no jobs, businesses, residences, places-of-interest or anything in Downtown Atlanta. Downtown is completely desolate after this.
All of the jobs (for now) are only in Midtown, Buckhead or Sandy Springs, because, you know, that is only where Sualpine sees them... Though, the jobs will soon be gone from there, too, because, you know, there is no way that a large major metro area/region with a diversified economy like Atlanta will ever be able to survive a crushing blow like this.
This is clearly a catastrophic event for Atlanta, and not just the beginning-of-the-end, but the end-of-the-end, because that. is. what. Sualpine. sees. I just don't understand why no one else sees what Sualpine sees and has been trying to warn us about all this time?
People on this forum need to listen to Sualpine a lot more, because Sualpine is only clearly just trying to look out for Atlanta's best interests.
We all just need to face the reality that Atlanta (a large major metro region of nearly 7 million people, that is a massive hub of business, logistics and industry for the Southeast and is home to the world's busiest airport) is done, totally finished and completely washed-up, and that at the end of the day, Sualpine will be able to say "see, I told you so."
We all just need to stop denying that Sualpine totally cares about Atlanta. That's all I'm saying.
1. No one knows for sure if the combined company will occupy SunTrust's current HQ building (they certainly haven't confirmed this). Though past history with similar HQ moves and information shared by Soccernerd suggests they *WON'T.*
2. AT&T is vacating their Midtown entirely, while Bank of America had vacated most of their Midtown building. The high profile of these buildings was completely irrelevent to their decision.
3. While Sualpine by his own admission has an agenda with his bashing of downtown Atlanta, the reality is that downtown is potentially losing its largest private sector corporate employer (only leaving G-P, Southern Company and CNN to whatever extent) and its largest tenant of office space. It's concerning to me that some people are trying to dismiss or diminish all of this as if it's not significant.
Bank of America had vacated most of their Midtown building.
Where’s BofA ATL office then?
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