Amazon announced Thursday that it is opening a second company headquarters somewhere in North America, and will decide based on cities’ ability to prove their respective worth.
The tech firm says it is now accepting bids in an apparent expectation that localities will line up to make an offer — a situation ostensibly reminiscent of various nation states jockeying to host the Olympics.
“Amazon is opening the Amazon HQ2 Request for Proposal (‘RFP’) now,” the company wrote in an official statement. “And local and state government leaders interested in learning more about how they can bring Amazon to their community can visit www.amazon.com/amazonHQ2.”
City officials may very well battle for Amazon’s business. The company says it expects to invest more than $5 billion in construction, while creating up to “50,000 high-paying jobs” just for direct employment. Construction and operation of the second headquarters will likely require the hiring of tens of thousands more employees, which will also yield, according to Amazon, “additional investment in the surrounding community.”
“Amazon estimates its investments in Seattle from 2010 through 2016 resulted in an additional $38 billion to the city’s economy – every dollar invested by Amazon in Seattle generated an additional 1.4 dollars for the city’s economy overall,” the company wrote, before providing specific details and statistics of its enterprise’s base. Jeff Bezos says that he expects the new headquarters “to be a full equal” to its one in Seattle.
Amazon lays out its particular preferences for the next prospective location, which include: a metropolitan area with more than 1 million people (a choice that may vastly restrict its options), “communities that think big and creatively,” and “a stable and business-friendly environment.” It also hopes that the headquarters would have an urban campus and a similar layout to Seattle’s. The tech company clarified that these are not obligations.
Amazon’s anticipation of cities jostling to be the permanent host city isn’t surprising because of what the company says it has to offer, but it helps showcase Amazon’s ever-growing power. The once relatively simple e-commerce service has transformed into a massive tech conglomerate in a couple of decades.
It now has a stake in a number of diverse industries, such as cloud computing technology, electronics, like tablets and smart speakers, film and show production, and grocery retail and delivery.
Amazon declined to elaborate on its plans after The Daily Caller News Foundation contacted the company for further information.
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