PayPal drops plan to build $3.6M, 400-worker facility in Charlotte, NC, over recent discriminatory LGBT law
repeal HB2 now. https://twitter.com/... Ryan C. Gordon / @icculus : GOP in house passed it in emergency session. Dems all walked out in protest in the senate. GOP governor signed it.pic.twitter.com/Y2QUYZgTea Mcc / @mcclure111 : The scary thing is, if McCrory manages to kill the research triangle, that actually might help him/Republicanism https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Katie Peralta / @katieperalta : PayPal CEO told @DeonERoberts if McCrory scraps #hb2, NC would be a state they'd be glad to be an employer in http://www.charlotteobserver.com/ ... Usa Today / @usatoday : N.C. just lost a sweet deal because it wants to boss you around in the bathroom http://usat.ly/1RWRjRB pic.twitter.com/DSgpFf6RI8 NC Values Coalition / @ncvalues : Statement regarding @PayPal decision: https://www.facebook.com/... Sen. Jeff Jackson / @jeffjacksonnc : Biggest obstacle to repealing #HB2? A handful of Raleigh Republicans admitting they were wrong. #WeAreNotThis Jim Morrill / @jimmorrill : .@RoyCooperNC: 'The threat that HB 2 poses to jobs and our economy is no longer a possibility, it's a reality.' #NCPOL #NCGA #CharObs Senator Phil Berger / @senatorberger : Mayor @jenrobertsnc' Radical Bathroom Sharing Ordinance Costs Charlotte PayPal: http://goo.gl/1a75xR #NCGA #NCPOLpic.twitter.com/F6vjlgYSMB Jim Morrill / @jimmorrill : Berger + Moore blame @JenniferRobertsNC and 'far-left Political Correctness Mob she's unleashed' for loss of PayPal. #CharObs #NCPOL #NCGA Colin Campbell / @raleighreporter : Vermont governor encourages PayPal to send the 400 jobs up his way. #ncpol #HB2https://twitter.com/GovPeterShumlin / status/717392704951463936 ... ACLU-North Carolina / @aclu_nc : Paypal's withdrawal from Charlotte = loss of 400+ jobs for NC. Tell @PatMcCroryNC enough is enough: Repeal #HB2 https://www.aclu.org/... Tarini Parti / @tparti : Sen. Burr tells me Re: PayPal that he still talks to businesses who want to invest in NC and that existing businesses in NC aren't leaving Jamie Boll / @jamiebollwbtv : And now CLT Chamber weighs in on PayPal and #HB2 #ncpol #ncgapic.twitter.com/gUxihg1vgv Wral Gov't / @nccapitol : PayPal cancelling plans to create 400 jobs at new hub in Charlotte, cites #HB2 as the reason: https://www.paypal.com/... #wral #ncga Alex Garcia / @alexgarcia : Thank you @Dan_Schulman and @PayPal for the #lgbtsupport! Now why not move the office to Seattle :) https://twitter.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
PayPal had committed to a $3.6 million, 400-worker operations facility in Charlotte, and the cancellation lands weeks after North Carolina's legislature passed HB2 in an emergency session — with Democrats walking out of the senate and the GOP governor signing it. The company's CEO has said publicly that if Governor McCrory scraps the law, North Carolina would again be a state PayPal would gladly employ people in, making this a reversible boycott keyed to legislation rather than a permanent site decision.
The stakes for the state are larger than one facility: related coverage shows [[a:935271|North Carolina's tech-hub profile growing on the back of the Red Hat-IBM deal and Epic Games' funding round]], so the Research Triangle economy the state has been cultivating is exactly what commentators fear HB2 puts at risk.
First-order effects
- Charlotte loses 400 planned jobs and $3.6 million in investment immediately, and the CLT Chamber's recruiting pitch now carries a visible political liability it must answer for with every prospective employer.
- Governor McCrory and the GOP legislature face direct economic pressure to repeal HB2, since PayPal has explicitly framed the decision as conditional on the law being scrapped.
Second-order effects
- Other large employers evaluating North Carolina sites can now point to PayPal's withdrawal as precedent when negotiating concessions from the state, raising the cost of every future socially conservative bill.
- The episode fits a pattern where PayPal and its payments peers make values-driven service decisions — the same company later joined Square and Chase in pulling services from a Proud Boys-affiliated online store — signaling that political stances are becoming routine operating choices, not one-offs.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, state legislatures effectively face a corporate veto on legislation that triggers brand-risk reviews, shifting part of the bargaining power over social policy from voters' representatives to large employers' siting committees.
- For PayPal itself, the long arc runs the other way: the company that walked out of Charlotte in 2016 later closed its San Francisco office and executed layoffs of about 2,500 employees, so politically driven footprint decisions coexist with a shrinking overall footprint.
The trend: Large employers are increasingly using facility-siting and service decisions as leverage against state legislation, making corporate footprint policy a de facto check on state law.