Fresh from announcing an agreement to buy a rival technology company for $2.1 billion, the chief executive of Suwanee-based ARRIS Group predicted metro Atlanta and the company’s hundreds of local workers will see good things from the deal.
“We are a growing company and that should be favorable in terms of employment here in the Atlanta area,” ARRIS CEO and Chairman Bob Stanzione told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution just before holding a town hall meeting with employees Thursday morning.
He said he doesn’t expect mass layoffs locally.
The trading price of ARRIS shares rose about 20 percent Thursday to $36.52 at 11:18 a.m. after Wednesday’s after-market news that the company will acquire Pace Plc, which is based in the United Kingdom. The combined company is expected to have about 8,500 employees. The deal still needs to win regulator and shareholder approval.
ARRIS supplies cable TV and telecommunications companies with an array of equipment, including set-top boxes for homes. Said Stanzione, “If you watch television or you use the Internet you are probably using an ARRIS product and you may not know it.”
While the combined company will remain headquartered in the Suwanee area, he said a decision to incorporate in the UK was primarily driven by the lower tax rates there.
For more on Stanzione’s comments, see myAJC.com later today or tomorrow’s print edition of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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