Back in March 2008 the North Carolina Economic Investment Committee voted today to award a Job Development Investment Grant to Tessera Technologies, a Charlotte electronics and optics company. At the time the deal was touted thusly:
This grant will support Tessera’s consumer optics plans, enabling the company to add 185 jobs and invest approximately $30 million in its Charlotte-based wafer-level optics facilities during the next five years. … Under the terms of the JDIG, for each year in which the company meets the required performance targets, the state will provide a grant equal to 65 percent of the state personal income withholding taxes derived from the creation of new jobs. Should the company create the jobs called for under the agreement and sustain them for nine years, the agreement could yield as much as $2.64 million in maximum benefits for Tessera Technologies.
Three years later, and Tessera has exited the state program. Since the grant was announced it has added 28 jobs — not 185 — and as a result will keep $23,832.
