A 2017 deal made by the era’s Ron DeSantis, former Republican Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, that provided nearly $4 billion in state and local tax breaks, financial incentives and other benefits to Taiwanese electronics company Foxconn to entice them to bring a $10 billion manufacturing project to Wisconsin, has essentially vanished as the company sold off two major plots of land it promised to develop, Wisconsin Public Radio reports.
The original deal, signed by Walker, provided $4 billion to the company, which promised to hire 13,000 people. To date, Foxconn operates one plant in the state, employing around 1,450 people making flat-screen monitors. In May, Microsoft bought a property in Mount Pleasant that Foxxconn had bought in 2018. Foxconn also sold two other properties–one in Eau Claire and one in Green Bay–that it paid a combined $12 million for around the time the deal was signed.
Wisconsin’s current governor, Democrat Tony Evers, scaled back the deal with Foxconn after taking office in 2021, extending just $80 million in tax breaks to the company after it failed to fulfill any of the much-ballyhooed plan celebrated by Walker.