PayPal President and CEO Dan Schulman announced Tuesday that the company would withdraw its planned expansion into Charlotte, North Carolina, in response to a law the company says discriminates against the LGBT community.
Mr. Schulman said PayPal will search for a new state to house its global operations center, which he said will cost North Carolina 400 skilled jobs with an estimated average salary of $51,000 per year.
“The new law perpetuates discrimination and it violates the values and principles that are at the core of PayPal’s mission and culture,” Mr. Schulman said in a statement. “As a result, PayPal will not move forward with our planned expansion into Charlotte.”
House Bill 2, which was signed into law by Republican Gov. Pat McCrory last month, prohibits people from using the public restrooms of the opposite sex.
The measure came in response to and overruled a Charlotte city ordinance passed in February that would have granted access to public accommodations on the basis of gender identity.
Several blue-chip tech companies, ranging from Apple and Microsoft to Facebook and Twitter, have denounced the law as discriminatory toward transgender people.
Mr. McCrory said the law is a matter of public safety and privacy for women and children.
• Bradford Richardson can be reached at brichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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