Northrop to Move Headquarters to Washington Region (Update2)
By Gopal Ratnam
Jan. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Northrop Grumman Corp. will move its headquarters to Washington from Los Angeles by mid-2011, as new Chief Executive Officer Wesley Bush puts his stamp on the third- largest U.S. defense company.
“Moving the corporate office to the Washington region makes a lot of sense,” Bush, 48, said today in a phone interview. “It’s not only myself but the full corporate leadership team having the ability to be more readily accessible to our customers, to be able to engage in a more routine manner.” Bush took over as CEO on Jan. 1 after his predecessor, Ronald D. Sugar, stepped down from the post prior to his retirement in June.
Northrop plans to maintain research, development and other operations in California, where it employs about 30,000. The company has yet to select a specific headquarters site and will consider locations in surrounding Maryland and Virginia as well as the district itself. The corporate offices will have a staff of about 300, according to the statement.
Northrop will discuss prospective locations with the governments of Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. “We are going to let it be driven by economics,” Bush said.
Lockheed Martin Corp. and General Dynamics Corp. already are based in the Washington, D.C., region.
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