Welcome Big Blue!

IBM set to bring 800 jobs to Columbia

100 will be hired this year; average salary to be $55K.

The city known for the black and gold of the University of Missouri is about to get what some are calling a historic financial shot in the arm from Big Blue. IBM is getting ready to take up quarters in a former manufacturing plant on LeMone Industrial Boulevard and plans to eventually have a $44 million annual local payroll.

Gov. Jay Nixon and several representatives from an ambitious public/private partnership announced today that IBM has selected Columbia for a new technology service delivery center that will employ as many as 800 technical professionals. Department of Economic Development officials said today’s announcement on the plaza of the City Hall Addition at Eighth Street and Broadway would rank among the nation’s top 10 job creation projects in 2010.

Average annual wages will be $55,000 per job, according to materials provided to the Tribune.

Columbia Daily Tribune story link.