How Atlanta is Becoming an Economic Hub

0:00As a top-performing advisor, you demand top-performing funds. That's why Fidelity's 1 ,000 experienced research professionals combine deep insights and advanced analytics to deliver consistent outcomes for clients across market cycles. Explore 300-plus Morningstar-rated 4 - and 5-star funds at i.fidelity.com slash top funds. Across all fund share classes of Fidelity, Fidelity Advisor Shares, and Fidelity ETFs as of 6-15-2026, past performance is no guarantee of future results. The thing about AI for business, it may not automatically fit the way your business works. At IBM, we've seen this firsthand.

0:38But by embedding AI across HR, IT, and procurement processes, we've reduced costs by millions, slash repetitive tasks, and freed thousands of hours for strategic work. Now we're helping companies get smarter by putting AI where it actually pays off, deep in the work that moves the business. Let's create smarter business, IBM. Get the news you need in just 15 minutes. Start your day with Bloomberg Daybreak, the podcast with a global view on the stories that matter. I'm Nathan Hager. And I'm Karen Moscow. Join us each morning for curated stories on current events, politics, business and foreign relations.

1:16Plus one conversation on the day's biggest developments, all in just 15 minutes. Subscribe to Bloomberg Daybreak for a precise, thoughtful take on the stories that matter. Listen to Bloomberg Daybreak each morning on Apple, Spotify or anywhere you listen.

1:32Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts. Radio. News. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenevek on Bloomberg Radio. Carol Masser, when you think of Atlanta in business, what comes to mind? Brett Pauley. Okay, that's the right answer. All right. Okay. Well, maybe I set you up for that one. I see a lot of things. I mean, there's been a lot happening in that city. There has. Okay, so if you think about the mainstays, right? Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, AT &T, Emory, UPS. They are all among the largest employers in the area. And by population, it's actually the sixth largest market in the U.S.

2:09Our next guest charged with attracting businesses to Atlanta, keeping them there and working with policymakers to make the climate attractive to capital. Katie Kirkpatrick is president and CEO of the Metro Atlanta Chamber. It represents businesses, colleges and universities, nonprofits, too, across the greater Atlanta area. She joins us here in the Bloomberg Interactive Brokers Studio. Also here, Brett Pulley. Yes. The man we think of when we think of business in Atlanta. He's Atlanta bureau chief for Bloomberg News. We love it when he comes to New York and can join us here in the studio. Welcome to both of you.

2:42Katie, you compete with other major metropolitan areas to attract and retain businesses. Mercedes-Benz, Rivian, Duracell are among the recent wins for you and your team. Why is your area the best to do business in your view? That's a pretty simple equation. We have the world's largest and most efficient airport. Hold on, hold on. Efficient? Yes. Okay. I've walked through that airport before. Efficient. Did not feel efficient to me. But anyway, sorry, go ahead. We can talk about JFK, which I threw it to yesterday, so be careful. Off-air, offline, off-air. Okay. But the airport is a really important asset because if you're in business and you're either working in the United States or internationally, you can get anywhere with a direct flight.

3:25And that's a big selling point. In fact, you can get to 80 % of the United States within a two-hour direct flight from Atlanta. So it's pretty good for business development. And then if you're international, we have direct flights all over the world. Second piece is we have an incredibly robust university system, higher education system. A lot of people don't know that we have more than 60 colleges and universities within the 29-county metro Atlanta area. That does not include University of Georgia, believe it or not. And that means we have 300 ,000 full-time equivalent students. So we're diverse for talent and opportunity.

4:01So that's another piece. And then, of course, we have deep, deep bones around supply chain and logistics. And so we were initially called Terminus before we became Atlanta. And that's because that's where the railroads all came in. It's where our highways come in. So supply chain and logistics is really the bread and butter of our economy. You mentioned Delta. You mentioned GPS. You didn't mention the Home Depot. Oh, I meant to mention Home Depot. And I say that because if we think about moving products, right, the Home Depot is moving product every day, as well as all these others. Delta, of course, is moving people.

4:36So those are some of the assets that we talk about and seem to be compelling for companies when they're thinking about Atlanta. Brett, I want you to come in. You cover Atlanta. You've covered actually business news for a long time and under kind of the cross between money, technology, politics, economy. But when you look at Atlanta, what do we need to understand about Atlanta? And I know you caught up with Katie earlier, but give us a quick primer, if you will, on what's going on in Atlanta.

5:00Katie Kirkpatrick:Well, I do think Katie has certainly hit on some key things and a couple of them that really resonate. You know, one is the fact that it is a transportation hub and long has been, as she said, it was known as Terminus, which and the airport. As you mentioned, Tim, look, everyone knows that airport. Right. And it is amazing. And one of the wonderful things about being there, I've been there five years now, is I can go just about anywhere in the world nonstop. And that's nice. And I get there very fast. But you do have to cover some distance there. You get your steps in. You know, the airport has been in the news in recent days as it relates to a lot of the stuff we're talking about.

5:41Katie Kirkpatrick:And Katie and I talked about this earlier today. The fact that the mayor now is given Atlanta's history and even the airport's history. A lot of people don't know that airport was really expanded and developed very much with what is referred to as DEI today, but certainly with that as its foundation. And that's been something that's been really sort of pivotal in creating this sort of unique class of upwardly mobile, diverse entrepreneurs that, you know, who are in Atlanta. Well, the mayor in recent days refused to change those initiatives around the airport. And as a result, the city lost, oh, I think, 37 and a half million dollars so far in federal funding.

6:32Katie Kirkpatrick:We've seen the same thing in the news today in New York, very similar, much larger amount, right? Again, around infrastructure and again around DEI. So it's really interesting, and it's something that I'd love to hear Katie talk about. How does a city, a place like Atlanta, again, which is the cradle of the civil rights movement, right? And many of the things that we now know today as DEI. How do you balance that? How does the business community balance that fact, that reality, that historical past with the demands from the White House today? That's pretty simple. You acknowledge what your past is.

7:12And because we are the cradle of the civil rights movement, our DNA is steeped in having a diverse workforce, a diverse community. And the mayor doesn't shy away from that. And I think if he had, it would have been inauthentic to who we are as a community. And so from a corporate perspective, corporations are going to hire the talent where they find it and they're going to look for quality. And that is one of the biggest strengths that we have in Metro Atlanta right now is a diverse, well-educated population that can fill the jobs that we are creating. So while the mayor may have made that decision, I think it's indicative of the DNA of who we are as a region.

7:53And we're not going to shy away from that authentic piece of our history. If we don't, I think we don't look true to ourselves. I am curious, though, Katie, because I think one of the things that we talk so much as a result of this administration is the fear that's out there, whether it's among politicians, certainly on the other side of the political aisle here, or whether it's in the corporate community. Nobody wants to be a target. Nobody wants to be in a social media tweet. And here we are with the government shutdown. You've got the White House halting 18 billion dollars in New York infrastructure funding due to concerns over diversity and inclusion practices.

8:28Things are being politicized. So how do you make sure that the city's DEI programs aren't causing problem or undue notice by the White House are causing you guys to lose federal dollars? Yeah, I think what's important is the ethos that we have in Atlanta, which is really that corporate, political and civic all work together. And so people come and go in local, state and federal politics. What doesn't change is who we are as a community. And so from a corporation standpoint is they're going to continue to do what their customers, what their employees, what their shareholders ask for them to do.

9:07Change comes and go, but if they can stick to what their strategy is and they can stick to who their purpose and what their purpose is, I think that's how you move through this moment. And that is what I'm hearing from our CEOs is we're just going to keep executing on our strategic plan. We're going to do what's best for who we serve. And that in the end is going to be good for us as a company and ultimately as a community.

9:32Katie Kirkpatrick:Yeah, it's really interesting. You know, Katie's not just whistling Dixie when she talks about the corporate and the community partnership. I mean, I have to tell you, I have been really impressed by the level of civic engagement. Right. And it goes again to this point. I mean, anecdotes abound about the extent to which Coca-Cola worked with Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement. Right. And this wasn't like everyone was necessarily jumping in willing to do it. But I think that the city and the business leaders recognized that it was a business imperative. Right. If they were going to be successful as business people, probably the same thing we're facing as a country.

10:16Katie Kirkpatrick:You know, one thing, the other thing I'll mention really quick is transportation, which which Katie mentioned as well. It's a big, big deal. And, you know, and I'm not talking about the transportation hub. Now I'm talking about transportation around this fast-growing, really rapidly spreading city. And I mentioned that on my way to the airport yesterday, I saw an accident. It wasn't the accident that held up traffic. It was the driverless Waymo that held up traffic. I love driverless Waymo. Because they couldn't figure out what to do because the accident was there. But I'd like to think that maybe that's a solution for Atlanta.

10:52Katie Kirkpatrick:But what do you do about MARTA, the public transportation system, and making all that work better? So we're one of 11 cities that have a heavy rail system. And that is always an asset for us when we're thinking about growth, right? What a better way to talk about you can land at the Atlanta airport and you can be in downtown or midtown within about 15 minutes. Straight shot for$2.50. That is an easy selling point. Now, that system has to work for everybody. And that is the opportunity that we have is creating a system that has better headways, has a better customer experience, and perhaps also modernizes itself, its stations and its trains.

11:32And that's the direction it's going. But the business community cares. And so we are actively engaged with our transit system, very different than the system that is here in terms of its construction and governance. So we're doing what we can to make sure that they are delivering on the promises. I think the point, Brett, that you were making about transportation, I said this to you earlier, it's a success jam that we experience. Tell me one urban city where you have been, where there has been growth and no traffic. It really is a symptom of our success. And I know that's hard if you're sitting at it or you're stuck behind a Waymo that gets, you know, disoriented.

12:11But at the end of the day, it tells me that we must be doing something right. I don't know. Here in New York, we've been successful for a long time, and the traffic's been here for a long time. I've been waiting and waiting and waiting. Right? I hear what you're saying. And if we didn't have that success, we wouldn't have those growth nodes that we see around our region. That's really what has happened is we moved from one central business district to a second one to about eight now, and they're all over the region. And that allows you to live, work, and play close to one central location. So let's talk about live, work and play, because the other thing that comes up with economic development and attracting and retaining businesses, employees and finding places for employees to be able to live affordably while working where they want to work in an area that is growing, such as Atlanta.

12:57How do you make sure that you're working with different constituencies to make sure that housing is abundant for these people you want to attract? That's a national problem. We aren't alone. It's a national problem, but it's a problem with local regulations. You have to solve it at the local level. You can't solve it nationally. But we are not alone in the need for increased supply, right? And it's been a problem for a long time. 30 years. We have been under building for 30 years. The chair of my board right now is the CEO of Pulte Group, which is the third largest home builder in the United States.

13:33And he has been very instructive with us to think about it. We're an economic development organization. Okay? So we think about creating jobs. So the second thing we think about is where do we get the talent to fill the job? How are we skilling them, right? He goes, are you thinking about where they're going to lay their head at night? And I said, gosh, we really haven't thought about that. And he said, for every two jobs you create, you need one home. And so if you have 30 years of underbuilding across the United States, I think it's 4 million homes we are behind. You not only have to build the amount you need every year, you now have to play catch up.

14:07So the way that we have engaged is working with the corporate community. We're working with our state politicians because they have a role, even though local zoning controls, they will have a role in how growth proceeds. And then also working with local governments to think about how do we take our transit system and build transit oriented development and put housing right on transit? That is an opportunity that's low hanging fruit for us. So that's how we're thinking about it. But this is relatively new. what is the role of the business community and thinking about how to create affordable housing and when i say affordable i mean attainable it is not it's it's all layers of the stack they should have an interest in it because if there isn't housing then it's expensive then you have to pay your employees more and that obviously hits margins so there are ripple effects throughout the economy if there's no housing you've just uh captured what ryan marshall says on a daily basis to us, that it is incumbent upon us as an organization to actually kind of push the local and state governments to do more?

15:08And then also as an organization, what can we do to support them? You sound very optimistic, which I love because, you know, it's certainly been an interesting year to say the least. And interesting sometimes means difficult and stressful. Tariffs, other White House policies, inflation. What impact is any of that having on development in your city? Yeah, we haven't seen anything yet. And I think that's largely nothing. No, I haven't heard any companies make any major decisions based on tariffs or trade. We haven't heard of massive freezing or hiring layoffs or layoffs of individuals. I think that is largely and again, this is my personal opinion.

15:46But what I have gleaned from CEOs, you talk to CEOs. I do daily talk to community leaders and they're not saying, yeah, we're not doing this project. No, they in some ways have just said, well, we're sitting in what I would say watch mode for the moment. Like, where are we going? Where are we heading? What is that strategy and vision ahead? Remember, we're only nine months into this administration. So I think a lot of companies - Remember, we're only nine months into it. And look at all that has happened. But what I am hearing from CEOs is they have a strategy that they have developed with their board, their shareholders have adopted, and they are just controlling what they can control.

16:21And that is moving forward. And that's what I'm hearing from the C-suite in Atlanta. All right, we only have about 30, 40 seconds. But Brett, I want to give you the last question.

16:28Katie Kirkpatrick:Well, real quick, one of the big projects we talk about, things going forward, Centennial Yards. $5 billion project right around the stadiums, a big entertainment district. How's that going? Tariffs are not slowing that down. And will it be ready for the World Cup? It will be ready for the World Cup, at least phase one, which includes a hotel and apartments. If you are familiar with Hudson Yards, it's a stack on stack on stack. It's the same developer that did Hudson Yards. This was a 50-acre, undeveloped for 70 years, gash in our downtown. And it is going to be ready. We're not only going to have housing and hotels, we're also going to have an entertainment space that will be constructed and online called COSM by June 1st.

17:15So we're really excited about the opportunity to display that when World Cup kicks off. June 1st, just around the corner. Yeah, right? When you're like somebody. We have a countdown clock, trust me. What a joy to have both of you here in studio. Katie Kirkpatrick, president and CEO of the Metro Atlanta Chamber. Thank you. Thank you so much. Hope we can catch up again with you in the future. And Brett Pulley, always good to have you. Normally in Atlanta, but here in our New York studio. Great to have you here. He is Atlanta Bureau Chief at Bloomberg News.

17:47Advisors. The best way to outperform client expectations is to choose funds and ETFs that outperform the market. Fidelity helps power long-term growth in client portfolios with 300-plus Morningstar rated 4 - and 5-star funds, including active ETFs. Discover what sets Fidelity apart when it comes to performance at i.fidelity.com slash top funds. Across all fund share classes of Fidelity, Fidelity Advisor shares, and Fidelity ETFs as of 6-15-2026, past performance is no guarantee of future results. This week on Leaders with me, Francine Lacqua. I speak to tennis legend Rafa Nadal about how he stayed competitive despite injury.

18:25I was able to enjoy the victories probably more than if I will not have this issue. One iconic match. In my mind was, I am almost dead. And whether he misses playing. I don't miss tennis because there was nothing else to offer. Listen and watch Leaders with me, Francine Lacqua, on Bloomberg Television or wherever you get your podcasts.

19:11Absolutely need to hear. Subscribe to the Masters in Business podcast on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you listen.