Virginia wins Grumman, bidding war moves to county level

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Cameron Nordholm

After a fierce bidding war between Maryland, Virginia and — for a time — D.C., Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell announced victory this week.

Northrop Grumman is headquartered in Los Angeles, but the major defense and aerospace company is now expected to set up shop in Northern Virginia within the next year.

The company stands to gain higher visibility in the defense industry-heavy region, along with close proximity to its main client: the Pentagon.

Now that the state-level decision has been made, the decision of picking a county jurisdiction remains. Arlington and Fairfax are said to be the top contenders and some of the requested perks have raised eyebrows:

"Economic development and political officials in two jurisdictions told The Washington Post that Northrop asked for several perks during preliminary discussions, including reimbursement for moving costs and country-club memberships..."

Other reports mention Fairfax offering Grumman discounted hanger space at Dulles airport. A final decision on locating within either Fairfax or Arlington is expected shortly.

Washington Times loses Moon subsidy, is up for sale
The loss of substantial funding from the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church has left the paper in a difficult financial situation as it looks for a buyer or new investment:

"Washington Times executives are negotiating to sell the newspaper, after the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's family cut off most of the annual subsidy of about $35 million that has kept the Unification Church-backed paper afloat, company officials said. "

Rumors about a possible sale have been circulating for several months now, but it appears the situation has more recently come to a head as members of Moon's family vie for control over various facets of his commercial holdings.

Some are hopeful that, with a transition of ownership, the Times could escape the stigma of being invested in the agenda of the Unification Church.

"Once the Times has been sold, some of the eyebrows that have been raised about the paper for years due to its church ownership will lower.
And then comes the real task: keeping a paper alive in an era when many newspapers seem to be on life support."

Early this year, the Times cut almost half of its editorial workforce as part of apparently dramatic moves to shore up the paper's bottom line.