Reports say Maytag’s corporate headquaters may be moved out of Iowa to Chicago, Dallas or some other area to attract top personnel. The appliance giant has been based in Newton since its founding 107 years ago and employs four-thousand people there. Jasper County Alliance for Economic Development President Steve Noah says rumors of the move have been rampant in Newton since Loyd Ward took over as C-E-O and announced there was no guarantee the headquarters would stay in the community. He says every corportaion periodically reviews their location.A Des Moines Register story quotes a New York business analyst as saying he had extensive discussions with top Maytag executives about the possible move. Noah says any discussion is purely conjecture.Noah says if the Maytag executive suite were to move out of Newton, the blow to the town would be more psychological than economic. He says there would be a loss of a maximum of 100 jobs. He says many of the managers now live outside of Newton anyway.Noah says local economic development leaders will do everything they can to try to convince Maytag to keep its corporate headquaters in Iowa.
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