CEO Explains How Govt. Incentives Kept Stardock in Michigan

February 10, 2009

When Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) gave a shout-out to Stardock CEO Brad Wardell in her State of the State address last week, there was a back story.

As GamePolitics reported at the time, Granholm credited Michigan's game and film production incentive program with keeping Stardock located in the state.

For its part, Edge Online interviewed Stardock CEO Brad Wardell, who explained the impact of the Michigan incentives on his company:

[Michigan state officials] came to us and said look, what are your problems with Michigan?" Wardell rattled off some of the barriers of Stardock's location: a shallow talent pool, the weather and the communication infrastructure (Stardock's offices use a Comcast cable connection)...

the state was receptive, coming to Stardock with a package that outlined plans to improve communication infrastructure, incentives to hire from local colleges and breaks on relocation costs when recruiting out of state.

"If you're having to pay a guy a salary of $50K, $60K, $75K, and then you have to pay extra for relocation costs, the tax credit can make the difference. It can take away the cost of moving expenses."

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Comments

Re: CEO Explains How Govt. Incentives Kept Stardock in ...

Submitted by Neeneko on Tue, 02/10/2009 - 18:39.

Pitty we can't convince philadelphia to make them a better deal ;p

Re: CEO Explains How Govt. Incentives Kept Stardock in ...

Submitted by Xveers on Tue, 02/10/2009 - 17:42.

Michigan more likely looked at it this way:

They figured out how much this tax cut for them would cost them in lost revenue. They then look at how much overall revenue they would gain by having stardock expand their footprint in Michigan both directly (annual taxes) and secondary sources (sales taxes and increased business). They also looked at the probable revenue loss from stardock assuming they went to relocate someplace else that was more favorable.

Best keep your wits about you: The gears of life are always spinning, and ignorance eventually means you'll get caught in them.

Re: CEO Explains How Govt. Incentives Kept Stardock in Michigan

Submitted by Truec on Tue, 02/10/2009 - 15:15.

Michigan has enough money to give tax incentives to companies? When did this happen?

Re: CEO Explains How Govt. Incentives Kept Stardock in Michigan

Submitted by cpt crunchie on Tue, 02/10/2009 - 16:17.

massive amounts of loans to keep the state afloat is how.

It is not murder; I am merely advancing the hands of the clock, just a bit.

Re: CEO Explains How Govt. Incentives Kept Stardock in Michigan

Submitted by E. Zachary Knight on Tue, 02/10/2009 - 13:54.

Maybe Oklahoma's government needs to talk to Michigan's government and actually learn how to implement tax incentives.

E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
http://www.theeca.com/chapters_oklahoma

E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower

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