Motorola Mobility gets $100 million state incentive to stay put

Illinois will spend $10 million a year over the next decade to keep Motorola Mobility's phone business headquartered in Libertyville.

The cell-phone maker agreed to keep 3,000 jobs here, including about 200 workers in a design center in the Loop. The decision by CEO Sanjay Jha to stay in Illinois ends months of speculation over whether Illinois would lose one of its few large technology company headquarters. Gov. Pat Quinn (D-IL) defended the move: "It's important for Illinois to have a world-class technology company and a brand the whole world knows. These are 3,000 high-paying jobs that are important to our state." For the past year Jha had been considering leaving Illinois for Silicon Valley; Austin, Texas, or his hometown of San Diego, Calif., to create a new company's headquarters. Two weeks ago, the Illinois Legislature expanded an incentive program that rebates state payroll taxes to include companies such as Motorola, paving the way for the deal. To get the tax credits, Motorola must certify its payroll and investment annually. Because the credits are based on payroll taxes, the company will receive lower benefits if it falls below specified targets.