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Fallen kingdom: 38 Studios' collapse and the pitfalls of using public money to support tech companies
In a career filled with many clutch throws from the baseball mound, former Boston Red Sox ace Curt Schilling's main calling card was a gutsy post-season performance made even more memorable by a blood-soaked sock. It was a pitch made by Schilling outside of Major League Baseball, however, that would prove to be his most daring one yet. In 2010, Schilling convinced Rhode Island officials to give his video game company, 38 Studios, a $75 million loan guarantee. A self-professed fan of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG), Schilling's dream was to create a worthy competitor to Blizzard's MMORPG juggernaut, World of Warcraft. In 2006, Schilling started Green Monster Games, which was later renamed 38 Studios. Luring the company away from Massachusetts was supposed to bring in more than 400 jobs and serve as the linchpin for launching a new tech-based industry in Rhode Island. Instead, the state's taxpayers found themselves left at the table with a multimillion-dollar tab.
Apple to build $304M campus in Austin, Texas
Apple is expanding its presence in Texas with a new campus that'll add 3,600 new jobs, says Texas Governor Rick Perry. The US$304 million campus will double the size of Apple's Texas workforce over the next ten years and bring new customer support, sales and accounting jobs to the region. To help fund this project, Apple will receive $21 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund, a fund created to encourage companies to invest in the Lone Star State. [Via AppleInsider]
