Hughes Expected to Announce Decision to Stay in Los Angeles

Hughes Aircraft Co. is expected to announce Monday that it will stay in its current Los Angeles headquarters building, even though several other states vied to attract the aerospace and defense concern.

Hughes declined to comment Friday, but the General Motors Corp. subsidiary scheduled a news conference for Monday morning that will be attended by Gov. Pete Wilson, Assembly Speaker Willie Brown and other state officials.

Last October, Hughes announced plans to vacate its posh corporate home, a granite edifice that sits on an ocean bluff near Malibu. The company did not say where it would go, but several states then tried to persuade Hughes to move to their regions.

Hughes’ chairman, C. Michael Armstrong, has at times criticized California for its relatively high business costs and political inaction. But some recent governmental actions--including an overhaul of the state’s workers’ compensation system in July--apparently persuaded Hughes to stay.

Hughes also has divisions in several Southern California locations, including El Segundo, Fullerton and Newport Beach.