Copyright Chicago Tribune
When Capital One closed on its $35 billion acquisition of Discover Financial Services in May, it brought together two credit card giants — and thousands of employees — under one roof. There may be a little more room at the former Discover headquarters in north suburban Riverwoods these days, after the newly merged company laid off nearly 600 employees in August and September. In August, Capital One filed a notice with the state that it was laying off 215 employees related to Discover’s home equity and refinance loans business, which the merged company was exiting. Capital One filed another notice last month that at least 382 additional employees across the company were being laid off in the wake of the megamerger. Most of the employees being laid off are set to leave the company by year’s end. “When we first announced the acquisition of Discover, we acknowledged that combining two companies would bring with it some difficult choices and changes,” a Capital One spokesperson said in a statement Monday. “After careful consideration, we announced a decision to eliminate some roles as part of our continued integration efforts.” In February 2024, Virginia-based Capital One announced it was buying Discover for $35 billion, merging two of the largest credit card companies and ending a long run for a Chicago-area corporate headquarters. At the time the deal was announced, about 4,000 Discover employees were connected to the Riverwoods headquarters. The Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires businesses with 75 or more employees to provide the state with 60 days’ advance notice of pending plant closures or mass layoffs. The August notice was related to the company winding down the Discover home loans business, which was not part of the Capital One portfolio. Of the 215 employees laid off, 51 worked at the Riverwoods facility, nine were Illinois residents who worked remotely and 155 were working remotely outside of the state, the company said. The layoffs announced in September reflected “acquisition-related role eliminations across a number of job titles,” according to a Capital One spokesperson. The total included 200 employees working at the Riverwoods facility, 18 Illinois residents working remotely and 165 out of state, the company said. While most of the laid-off employees will exit the company by year’s end, some will stay on through March, the company said. “Our focus right now is on fully supporting our colleagues impacted by this change,” the Capital One spokesperson said. “We provided at least 60 days of notice to impacted employees, and we are providing comprehensive career transition support, including enhanced severance, benefits, and outplacement resources.” Downsizing at Discover — long the largest company based in Riverwoods — is nonetheless a concern for the bucolic village of less than 4,000 people tucked in west of Deerfield along the Tri-State Tollway. For Riverwoods Mayor Kristine Ford, the immediate impact of the layoffs may be somewhat muted by the number of remote workers involved, she said. But her primary concern is the long-term fate of the campus itself. It’s a large parcel of land for a small community, with a “big, beautiful campus” at a valuable location, and Ford said she hopes they plan to stay. Kevin Considine, president and CEO of Lake County Partners, the county’s development agency, said that while the layoffs were “unfortunate,” they were not unexpected given the merger. He hoped “rapidly growing companies” such as Fortune Brands Innovations, located less than a mile east on Lake Cook Road in Deerfield, could perhaps hire some of the displaced former Discover employees. “There does seem to be a pretty good overlap,” Considine said. The Discover card was launched nationally in 1986 by then-owner Sears to compete for consumer wallet space with Visa, Mastercard and American Express. Capital One intends to continue to offer the Discover credit card alongside its own branded cards, the company said. But the Discover company is now fully integrated into Capital One. The 1.1 million-square-foot Discover corporate headquarters has long been located on a sprawling 25.5-acre lot along Lake Cook Road in Riverwoods. Its designation is now downgraded to a Capital One corporate site, a title it shares with facilities in New York, downtown Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto and several other locations. In Riverwoods, a complex of four buildings encircle a large retention pond on the surprisingly secluded campus, which is marked by a large Discover sign and set back from the road behind a long driveway, an expansive parking lot and a security gate. The main gray stone-and-glass building, completed in 1988, features a prominent four-story rotunda at the center, stretching out with wings on either side. The three additional buildings, which feature the same facade, opened in 2003, connected by glass skywalks. At midday Tuesday, the parking lot was full and the campus was buzzing with activity as employees filtered in and out of the buildings. While there are still about 4,000 employees associated with the Riverwoods facility, with most of the layoffs set to take place over the next two months, things might be less crowded entering the new year. Capital One remains committed to the Riverwoods facility and the satellite Discover office in Chicago’s River North neighborhood, which opened in 2014, the company said Tuesday. While the number of employees may be declining in Riverwoods, Capital One has followed through with a pre-merger promise to increase the headcount at a Discover call center on Chicago’s South Side as part of a massive community benefits plan announced last year. The five-year, $265 billion plan, which is spread out across Capital One’s national footprint, included a commitment to not only maintain Discover’s four-year-old call center in the city’s Chatham neighborhood, but also increase employment from 600 to 1,000 people, its original hiring target. Capital One has already reached that goal, the company said Tuesday. Tribune reporter Joseph States contributed.
