State officials have offered Pluralsight a $21.5 million state tax incentive to relocate its headquarters from Farmington to “a much larger home south of Salt Lake City,” one capable of holding nearly 2,500 additional employees.
The Governor’s Office of Economic Development board approved the incentive to help the homegrown, digital technology-education company locate a site for and build a new center of operations, a projected $372 million investment.
“What began in Utah will stay in Utah,” said Pluralsight co-founder and CEO Aaron Skonnard. “Silicon Slopes’ deep talent pool for software engineers and other technical jobs is thriving. That’s why we plan to keep investing in this community.”
Over the agreement’s 10-year life, Pluralsight’s expansion is expected to generate $1.4 billion in new state wages and new state tax revenues — from corporate, payroll and sales taxes — of $86.2 million, said GOED Executive Director Val Hale. Those wages are required to exceed the selected county’s average wage by 110 percent.
Pluralsight can claim a portion of the total tax rebate each year if it meets criteria set out in its contract with the state.
“Pluralsight’s remarkable growth resulted in several worldwide locations and opportunities for expansion outside of Utah,” Hale added. “We’re pleased they’ve decided to keep their headquarters in the state and look forward to their continued success.”
Founded in 2004, Pluralsight offers more than 6,000 on-demand courses, adaptive skill tests and customized curriculums for businesses and individuals. In 2016, it expanded to work with larger companies and it now provides services to 40 percent of the Fortune 500 companies, Hale said.
“We provide programming language, frameworks and tools that large companies need to stay competitive,” Skonnard said. The expanded client base will require the attention of new Pluralsight employees in all aspects of the operation, he said, “lots of software developers and engineers, sales and marketing people and other technical people.”
While Pluralsight is selecting a site and erecting the building, the company will move many of its software engineering and technical functions from its current Farmington headquarters, and an office in Lehi, to a new location in South Jordan.
The Economic Development Corporation of Utah is assisting Pluralsight in the site search. A Pluralsight spokesman declined to go into detail about the type of land sought by the company.