Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO)’s Move To LA Does Nothing For The Region

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO)’s move to Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles Times, does nothing for the region.

Earlier this week, it was announced that Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) will move its Southern California operations from Santa Monica to Los Angeles. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said that this move by the technology giant demonstrates how his city is “accelerating as a center of technology and entertainment.” If you ask the Los Angeles Times, the move is somewhat superficial and does nothing for the region.

“But it’s hardly a win for the region and its economy when Los Angeles poaches a business from Santa Monica. […] In this case, it appears that Yahoo is moving a few blocks to take advantage of L.A.’s special tax incentives for Internet companies. The move will put some tax dollars into L.A.’s budget that had previously gone to Santa Monica’s, but it will do nothing to enlarge or develop the economy,” the paper’s Editorial Board write.

Don’t get the Los Angeles Times wrong, it is very happy that Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) is in this region of California. It said that the company offers good jobs with good wages that attract well-educated people to the region. These workers have the money to spend and the dreams and projects that could blossom into massive businesses.

However, Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) merely moving from Santa Monica to Los Angeles should not be a cause for much celebration, the publication argues. What is needed is to create cities with a very good job market.

“What is needed is an economic development strategy that allows local cities to work together to make themselves more attractive to employers ready and able to create new Yahoo-level jobs here. Or at least to bring them here when they are outgrowing their quarters in Silicon Valley, New York or elsewhere outside the region,” they said.

It’s not very beneficial if nearby cities in the area just stole jobs from each other, the Los Angeles Times said.

Jeffrey Altman’s Owl Creek Asset Management owned about 5.2 million Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) shares by the end of 3Q2014.