STATE & NATION
Daily Chronicle / Daily-Chronicle.com
Tuesday, September 24, 2013 • Page A5
ADM looking to move longtime headquarters By DAVID MERCER The Associated Press CHAMPAIGN – Agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland Company said Monday that after spending 44 years in Decatur, it is looking for a new location for its headquarters with better access to its global customers. Chicago officials said the city is among the candidates. ADM said it already is considering a list of potential locations for what it’s calling its new global headquarters, but doesn’t plan to publicly discuss where it could be headed or how long it will take to make the decision. But the company also said it doesn’t plan any layoffs and will keep a workforce of 4,400 in Decatur, which also will become ADM’s North American headquarters. The company has extensive operations in the city and is its largest employer. “Our company is growing and becoming more global
Fairfax reaches deal to buy Blackberry The ASSOCIATED PRESS TORONTO – BlackBerry’s largest shareholder has reached a tentative agreement to pay $4.7 billion for the troubled smartphone maker, even as many investors fret about its potential demise. BlackBerry Ltd. said Monday that Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. has signed a letter of intent to buy the company for $9 a share in cash and take it private. The tentative deal comes just days after the Canadian company announced plans to lay off 40 percent of its global workforce. The offer price is below what the company had been trading at before the layoff announcement. Analysts say that although BlackBerry’s hardware business is not worth anything, the company still owns valuable patents. Patents on wireless technologies have exploded in value in recent years, as makers of the iPhone and various Android devices sue each other. Having a strong portfolio of patents allows phone makers to defend themselves and work out deals. BlackBerry also is strong in having total cash and investments of about $2.6 billion, with no debt. The BlackBerry deal follows a $7.2 billion offer that Microsoft Corp. made this month for the phones and services business of another troubled phone maker, Nokia Corp. Last year, Google Inc. paid $12.4 billion for another fallen pioneer, Motorola Mobility, mostly for its patents. The BlackBerry, pioneered in 1999, was once the dominant smartphone for onthe-go business people and other consumers. It could be so addictive that it was nicknamed “the CrackBerry.” President Barack Obama couldn’t bear to part with his BlackBerry. Oprah Winfrey declared it one of her “favorite things.” But then came a new generation of competing smartphones, starting with Apple’s iPhone in 2007. The BlackBerry, that game-changing breakthrough in personal connectedness, looked ancient suddenly. Although BlackBerry was once Canada’s most valuable company with a market value of $83 billion in June 2008, the stock has plummeted from more than $140 a share to less than $9, giving it a market value of $4.6 billion, just short of Fairfax’s offer. BlackBerry shares plunged 17 percent Friday after the company announced a loss of nearly $1 billion and layoffs of 4,500 workers. It gained 9 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $8.82 Monday.
and more customer-centric,” CEO Patricia Woertz said. “To continue to succeed, we need a global center in a location that allows us to travel and work efficiently with customers and employees throughout the world. We also need an environment where we can attract and retain employees with diverse skills, and where family members can find ample caPatricia reer opportuniWoertz ties.” Archer The new Daniels headquarters Midland would have Company CEO about 100 employees, ADM said in a new release. It also would be home to a new IT center that would add another 100 new employees over the next several years. ADM has about 30,000 employees around the world. The company, which is No. 27
AP file photo
The Archer Daniels Midland Company plant in Decatur announced Monday in a news release that after 44 years, it is looking for a new location for its headquarters. CEO Patricia Woertz said ADM needs what she called a global center with better access to customers and other employees around the world. Tom Alexander, a spokesman for the City of Chicago, confirmed that the city has talked with ADM and is a candidate.
on the Fortune 500 list, processes corn, soybeans and a range of other crops to make everything from animal feed to ethanol and food additives.
“This is a dynamic, global company that is a leader in a key industry, and we believe that they are a good fit with what Chicago has to offer,”
he said. “We’ll do our best to keep them in Illinois.” ADM has talked off and on for years about the need for a headquarters with easier access to the world beyond central Illinois, company spokeswoman Victoria Podesta said. Decatur’s small airport lacks commercial flights, and the other airports within 90 minutes of Decatur offer only connections to larger airports. During the company’s proposed acquisition of the Australian company Graincorp, ADM decided to go ahead with the plan, Podesta said. “Decatur doesn’t have an international airport,” she said. “If you’re trying to get to Australia to have a meeting ... it adds to your trip.” The company, she said, let local officials in Decatur know of its plans in the past few days. Messages left by The Associated Press with city officials in Decatur were not immediately returned.
8STATE BRIEFS State launches effort to fight child abuse CHICAGO – State officials who oversee the welfare of children in the state are launching a new effort to help stop child abuse and neglect. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has started it’s “You Are Not Alone” campaign. It includes a hotline, which is 800-2522873. The department is asking school officials, including regional school superintendents and private school organizations, to distribute 25,000
posters statewide. The effort is being initiated as students return to the school. The department says one in five children are abused or neglected before they turn 18.
Durkin begins House GOP leadership duties SPRINGFIELD – State Rep. Jim Durkin officially began his tenure as Republican leader in the Illinois House. The Western Springs lawmaker was elected to the post last month but officially took the reins Monday. His predecessor, state
Rep. Tom Cross of Oswego, stepped down to run for state treasurer. Cross held the position for a decade. Durkin has served as a Cook County assistant state’s attorney Jim Durkin and assistant State Illinois attorney representative general. He was first elected to the House in 1994 and served until 2002. He made an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate and was re-elected to the House in
2006. Durkin said he’s anxious to get to work. He said he wants to focus on bringing fiscal stability back to Illinois and ending government corruption.
Dog rescued after 2 hours at bottom of Ill. well STANDARD – A dog fell 23 feet into a northern Illinois well, then dog-paddled for two hours until firefighters could hoist him to safety. It happened Saturday near the tiny Putnam County town of Standard when a Goldendoodle named Doogie ran
to greet a worker who had opened the top of the family’s well to inspect it. Homeowners Arch and Judy Hopkins called the ordeal “horrifying.” Doogie alternated between swimming and extending his legs to wedge himself from wall to wall while firefighters figured out how to get him out. Eventually he was hoisted out after a firefighter rappelled into the well and got the dog into a mesh body bag, which allowed air water to pass through.
– Wire reports
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