The news Caterpillar is moving its world headquarters to Chicago came as a surprise to most Tuesday. The announcement of the move follows the February, 2015 declaration the company would stay in Peoria. In fact, Caterpillar was planning to expand its world headquarters, taking up 31-acres downtown near the Peoria Riverfront.
But in September 2015 the company announced a major restructuring to include 10-thousand job cuts and 20 facility closures around the world. Since then, Caterpillar has cut 16-thousand jobs, and sales and revenue have continued to slide.
Still, few were expecting yesterday's news that the world’s largest heavy equipment maker would move its headquarters out of its hometown. That included Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis, who received the information shortly before the news release was issued. Peoria Public Radio’s Tanya Koonce sat down with Ardis: