And Denver doesn't want to let this opportunity from a tech giant pass. Colorado may be cutting Slack Technologies some "slack," in the form of more than $10 million in tax incentives as the cloud messaging app company considers opening its second headquarters in the Denver metro area.
The San Francisco-based firm may be following in the footsteps of other California tech companies who are moving east to Denver.
And of course there's that other tech giant whose highly-publicized search for a second headquarters has set off a nationwide scramble to lure it with tax incentives and promises of infrastructure investment.
The $10.5 million tax benefit package proposed by the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade was developed under the code name "Project Ballpark." The incentives requested are performance-based Job Growth Incentive Tax Credits over an eight-year period. Slack estimates that the project will create up to 550 full-time jobs with an average salary of $107,975.
Slack was founded in 2009 and in 2017 leased a 230,000 square feet headquarters in San Francisco last year. The company was recently valued at $5.1 billion and raised $250 million from investors, much of it from Softbank's Vision Fund.
The Economic Development Commission approved the $10.5 million incentive package to try to lure the company to the Denver area at its meeting Thursday morning.
“This is a fabulous opportunity for us,” Commissioner Lisa Reeves said.
Slack is also considering Phoenix, Austin and Portland for its second headquarters, Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade Global Business Development Manager Dan Lane said.
He added that Colorado is the first state to have met with the company about an incentive package.
Lane said Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper spoke with Slack's C-Suite a few weeks ago to discuss the incentive package.
“It would be a big win for the state and continues the trend of high-profile Bay-area companies relocating to Colorado to take advantage of all that we have to offer,” Lane said.
Read more on the Denver Business Journal.
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