Crain's uses a mild word in his lead about reactions to Pulte Group skipping town. Friday's abrupt news brought "disappointment by business and government leaders," Tom Henderson writes.
Richard J. Dugas, Jr., Pulte Group chairman.
That's a soft way of couching what executives and politicians say publicly. Some clearly sound angry, though no one else gets quite as colorful as Dan Gilbert of Quicken Loans -- who tweeted about Pulte's "punk CEO & invertebrate board" and later told John Gallagher of the Free Press: "“The problem with these guys is they don’t tell the truth.”
Pulte, a top-tier U.S. residential builder born 63 years ago in Michigan, has about 380 employees in Michigan -- including 54 who'll keep their jobs in its local home-building division, according to Crain's.
Here's a sampling from others contacted by the business publication:
- Gov. Rick Snyder: "They didn't come to the table to say, 'Let's talk.' They have made a firm decision."
- Doug Rothwell, CEO of Business Leaders for Michigan: "Any time you lose a Fortune 500 company, it's bad. They are just not that easy to get."
- Lawrence Gardner, Troy business consultant: "It's total arrogance that Pulte didn't have the courtesy to let the MEDC [Michigan Economic Development Corporation] and Gov. Snyder know ahead of time. Especially after all Snyder has done to make Michigan a right-to-work state and bring down labor costs. It's mind-boggling."
- Charles Chandler, Birmingham investment banker: "We've got a state that's coming back. . . . There's a lot of investment here. So many of us feel that there are a lot of good things happening here, so to lose an iconic name like Pulte is very disappointing.""
- L. Brooks Patterson, Oakland County executive: "We are disappointed that Pulte has chosen to leave Michigan."
Harsher comments are posted online by Metro Detroiters.
"Why is Pulte bailing out on their home state? Feels kind of like a slap in the face," Shelley Hundertmark comments at Deadline Detroit's Facebook page.
"Pulte has always marketed itself as a family-oriented business," Michael McCardle says in a Free Press feedback column. "That will be tough to do with over 300 families forced to relocate or lose their jobs."
