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Delaware spent the year dealing with the impact of 1,700 job cuts and the looming merger of Dow and DuPont.
Some of the adjustment was psychological, as many of us still looked at the company as the behemoth that once employed 25,000 in the state a quarter of a century ago.
The decline in the headcount had been steady of the years, although the company did relatively little cutting during the great recession of 2008-2009.
With the latest round of job cuts, the headcount will end up at about 5,000 and perhaps less.
Even with the cuts, it can be hard to find a family in portions of northern New Castle and even the Seaford area in Sussex County that did not have some connection with the company.
Efforts were launched to determine opportunities for outplaced researchers that could include start-up companies.
The state also moved quickly to pass overdue reforms in its corporate tax structure.
The changes, which, at least in the short term, could widen the state’s spending-revenue gap were said to be part of efforts to retain DuPont spin-off Chemours headquarters jobs.
It turned out that Delaware was in the running for headquarters of two of the three companies that would be spun off from a combination of Dow and DuPont.
It had earlier been announced that one collection of Dow and DuPont businesses would be located in Delaware.
Then to the surprise of many, it was announced that the combined agriculture businesses – said to be the key driver of the Dow-DuPont merger – would be located in Delaware.
Analysts cautioned that the economic impact of the headquarters decisions could be minimal. In today’s global economy, headquarters operations can be small, with executives traveling the world to various job sites.
Also, much of the operational infrastructure of the combined ag businesses would remain in Iowa and other Midwetern locations.
Still, the announcements proved to be good news during a year that started out on the grim side.
Meanwhile, DuPont posted stronger earnings results as some markets recovered and cost-cutting efforts took hold.
As the year ended, European regulators were taking their time in assessing the Dow-DuPont merger, which was part of a wave of consolidations in the agricultural business, which combines seeds with herbicides and related businesses.
So far, Swiss-based Syngenta merged with China’s national chemical company and after much back and forth, DuPont rival Monsanto agreed to merge with German chemical giant Bayer. Farmers, meanwhile, are worried that the consolidation will affect pricing and innovation.
DuPont was also in the news regarding lawsuits involving the contamination from the chemical C8 along the Ohio River in West Virginia and Ohio.
A widely read article in New York Times magazine chronicled the efforts of a lawyer who has doggedly pursued cases and the stance of the company over decades regarding the safety of C8.
