Economy of Atlanta
Atlanta is one of ten U.S. cities classified as an "alpha-world city" by a 2010 study at Loughborough University,[1] and ranks fourth in the number of Fortune 500 companies headquartered within city boundaries, behind New York City, Houston, and Dallas.[2] Several major national and international companies are headquartered in metro Atlanta, including four Fortune 100 companies: The Coca-Cola Company, Home Depot, United Parcel Service, Delta Air Lines, AT&T Mobility, and Newell Rubbermaid. Other headquarters for some major companies in Atlanta and around the metro area include Arby's, Chick-fil-A, Earthlink, Equifax, First Data, Gentiva Health Services, Georgia-Pacific, NCR, Oxford Industries, RaceTrac Petroleum, Southern Company, SunTrust Banks, Mirant, and Waffle House. Over 75% of the Fortune 1000 companies have a presence in the Atlanta area, and the region hosts offices of about 1,250 multinational corporations. As of 2006 Atlanta Metropolitan Area ranks as the 10th largest cybercity (high-tech center) in the US, with 126,700 high-tech jobs.[3]
The top employment sectors in Metro Atlanta are (November 2011, excludes agriculture):[4]
| Sector | Employees (thousands) |
|---|---|
| Trade, transportation, and utilities | 530.3 |
| Professional and business services | 391.4 |
| Government | 311.9 |
| Education and health services | 282.3 |
| Leisure and hospitality | 218.3 |
| Manufacturing | 146.5 |
| Financial activities | 128.5 |
| Other services | 90.5 |
| Construction | 83.9 |
| Information | 73.7 |
| Mining and logging | 1.4 |
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[edit] Aviation
Delta Air Lines is the city's largest employer and the metro area's third largest.[5] Delta operates the world's largest airline hub at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and, together with the hub of competing carrier AirTran Airways, has helped make Hartsfield-Jackson the world's busiest airport, both in terms of passenger traffic and aircraft operations. The airport, since its construction in the 1950s, has served as a key engine of Atlanta's economic growth.[6]
[edit] Financial
Atlanta has a sizable financial sector. SunTrust Banks, the seventh largest bank by asset holdings in the United States,[7] has its home office on Peachtree Street in downtown.[8] The Federal Reserve System has a district headquarters in Atlanta; the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, which oversees much of the deep South, relocated from downtown to midtown in 2001.[9] Wachovia announced plans in August 2006 to place its new credit-card division in Atlanta,[10] and city, state and civic leaders harbor long-term hopes of having the city serve as the home of the secretariat of a future Free Trade Area of the Americas.[11]
[edit] Biotechnology and health
Atlanta is also home to a growing Biotechnology sector, gaining recognition through such events as the 2009 BIO International Convention.[12] Atlanta is also the headquarters of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region II.
Unincorporated DeKalb County is also home to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Adjacent to Emory University, with a staff of nearly 15,000 including: engineers, entomologists, epidemiologists, biologists, physicians, veterinarians, behavioral scientists, nurses, medical technologists, economists, health communicators, toxicologists, chemists, computer scientists, and statisticians. CDC has 10 other offices throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, and other staff in 45 countries around the world.[13]
[edit] Manufacturing
The auto manufacturing sector in metropolitan Atlanta has suffered setbacks recently, including the closure of the General Motors Doraville Assembly plant in 2008, and the shutdown of Ford Motor Company's Atlanta Assembly plant in Hapeville in 2006. Kia, however, has opened a new assembly plant near West Point, Georgia.[14]
[edit] Film and television
The city is a major cable television programming center. Ted Turner began the Turner Broadcasting System media empire in Atlanta, where he bought a UHF station that eventually became WTBS. Turner established the headquarters of the Cable News Network at CNN Center, adjacent today to Centennial Olympic Park. As his company grew, its other channels—the Cartoon Network, Boomerang, TNT, Turner South, Turner Classic Movies, CNN International, CNN en Español, HLN, and CNN Airport Network—centered their operations in Atlanta as well (Turner South has since been sold). Turner Broadcasting is a division of Time Warner. In 2008 Tyler Perry established his studios in Southwest Atlanta; and in 2010 EUE/Screen Gems opened soundstages in Lakewood Heights, south Atlanta. (See also: Film industry in Georgia (U.S. state)) The Weather Channel, owned by a consortium of NBC Universal, Blackstone Group, and Bain Capital, has its offices in the Cumberland district northwest of downtown Atlanta.
[edit] Communications
Cox Enterprises, a privately held company controlled by James C. Kennedy, his sister Blair Parry-Okeden and their aunt Anne Cox Chambers, has substantial media holdings in and beyond Atlanta; it is headquartered in the city of Sandy Springs.[15][16] Its Cox Communications division, headquartered in unincorporated DeKalb County,[17] is the third-largest cable television service provider in the United States.[18]
[edit] Top employers in Metro Atlanta
| Employer | Number of employees |
|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 22,257 |
| AT&T | 21,915 |
| Emory University | 21,000 |
| Cox Enterprises | 13,583 |
| United Parcel Service | 10,745 |
| Wellstar Health Systems | 10,112 |
| SunTrust Banks | 7,700 |
| Lockheed Martin Aeronautics | 7,531 |
| IBM Corporation | 7,500 |
| Georgia Tech | 7,342 |
| Northside Hospital | 7,100 |
| Turner Broadcasting Systems | 6,600 |
| Southern Company incl. Georgia Power | 6,000 |
| AirTran Airways | 6,000 |
| The Home Depot (HQ only) | 5,500 |
| Children's Healthcare of Atlanta | 5,220 |
| Coca-Cola | 5,136 |
| Wachovia Corp. | 5,100 |
Source: Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, 2007/2008. Figures are for HQ only, not retail stores.
[edit] List of companies in Atlanta
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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2009) |
The following is a list of the most notable companies that were founded or have their corporate headquarters in Atlanta or the surrounding metro area.
[edit] References
- ^ "The World According to GaWC 2008". Globalization and World Cities Research Network. GaWC Loughborough University. http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/world2008t.html. Retrieved April 29, 2009.
- ^ "Cities with 5 or more FORTUNE 500 headquarters". CNNMoney.com. April 8, 2009. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2009/cities/. Retrieved April 5, 2010.
- ^ "AeA ranks Atlanta 10th-largest U.S. cybercity". Bizjournals.com. June 24, 2008. http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2008/06/23/daily21.html?jst=b_ln_hl. Retrieved April 5, 2010.
- ^ Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Labor, Nov. 2011 preliminary figures
- ^ "Atlanta's top employers, 2006" (PDF). Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. Archived from the original on February 25, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070225123824/http://www.metroatlantachamber.com/macoc/business/img/TopEmployers2006.pdf. Retrieved August 8, 2007.
- ^ Allen, Frederick (1996). Atlanta Rising. Atlanta, Georgia: Longstreet Press. ISBN 1-56352-296-9.
- ^ "The Largest Banks in the U.S." (chart). The New York Job Source. June 30, 2006. http://nyjobsource.com/banks.html. Retrieved August 22, 2007.
- ^ Sarath, Patrice. "SunTrust Banks, Inc.". Hoovers. http://hoovers.com/suntrust/--ID__11416--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml. Retrieved August 22, 2007.
- ^ Bowers, Paige (December 7, 2001). "Beers built marble monument for Fed. Reserve". Atlanta Business Chronicle (American City Business Journals, Inc). http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2001/12/10/focus9.html. Retrieved September 28, 2007.
- ^ Rauch, Joe (August 21, 2006). "Wachovia to put headquarters of card subsidiary in Atlanta". Birmingham Business Journal (American City Business Journals, Inc). http://birmingham.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2006/08/21/daily3.html?jst=pn_pn_lk. Retrieved September 28, 2007.
- ^ "Atlanta: gateway to the future". Hemisphere, Inc.. http://www.atlantagateway.org/. Retrieved June 26, 2007.
- ^ McGirt, Dan (January 11, 2010). "Plans for the 2009 BIO International Convention in Atlanta, Georgia". BIOtechNOW. http://biotech-now.org/plans-for-the-2009-bio-international-convention-in-atlanta-georgia-0511.html. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
- ^ "CDC's Origins and Malaria". http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/history/history_cdc.html. Retrieved March 23, 2011.
- ^ Duffy, Kevin (August 9, 2007). "Supplier to build at Kia site in West Point". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070930041753/http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/stories/2007/08/08/mobis_0809.html. Retrieved August 22, 2007.
- ^ "Cox Enterprises, Inc. Reaches Agreement to Acquire Public Minority Stake in Cox Communications, Inc." Cox Enterprises. October 19, 2004. Retrieved on July 4, 2009.
- ^ "City Council Districts." City of Sandy Springs. Retrieved on July 4, 2009.
- ^ "Atlanta Headquarters." Cox Communications. Retrieved on April 22, 2009.
- ^ "About Cox". Cox Communications, Inc. http://www.cox.com/about/. Retrieved August 22, 2007.
- ^ "Contact Us." American Megatrends. Retrieved on May 6, 2009.
- ^ "At&T Mobility Llc." Manta. Retrieved on May 19, 2009.
- ^ "Company Fact Sheet." Chick-fil-A. Retrieved on May 19, 2009.
- ^ "Atlanta Headquarters." Cox Communications. Retrieved on April 22, 2009.
- ^ "Cox Enterprises, Inc. Reaches Agreement to Acquire Public Minority Stake in Cox Communications, Inc." Cox Enterprises. October 19, 2004. Retrieved on July 4, 2009.
- ^ a b c "City Council Districts." City of Sandy Springs. Retrieved on July 4, 2009.
- ^ "Contact Us." Cox Radio. Retrieved on April 24, 2009.
- ^ "Contact Corporate." Delta Air Lines. Retrieved October 17, 2008.
- ^ "Zoning Ordinance of Atlanta, Georgia Sheet No. 14-128." City of Atlanta. Retrieved October 17, 2008.
- ^ http://www.expressjet.com/corporate/contact.htm
- ^ "Corporate and Financial Overview." The Home Depot. Retrieved on April 24, 2009.
- ^ "Home Page." Infinite Designs LLC. Retrieved on August 3rd, 2010.
- ^ "Invesco moving global HQ to Atlanta." Atlanta Business Chronicle. Retrieved on April 12, 2011.
- ^ "Simmons Company History."
- ^ "Sony Ericsson Relocating Americas HQ to Atlanta." CoStar Group. Retrieved on April 12, 2011.
- ^ http://www.tindallcorp.com
- ^ "Contact UPS: United States." United Parcel Service. Retrieved on May 19, 2009.
- ^ "Contact Us
- ^ http://www.visionairlines.com/documents/2010-10-07-VisionAirlinesAnnounces-PressRelease.pdf
- ^ "Contact Us." Waffle House. Retrieved on May 19, 2009.
- ^ "Contact Us." World Airways. Retrieved on May 19, 2009.
