The hunt for Amazon’s second headquarters, dubbed HQ2, is over, and the Seattle-based powerhouse has selected two East Coast locations: New York City and Arlington, Virginia (across the Potomac River from Washington, DC). “The new locations will join Seattle as the company’s three headquarters in North America,” the company announced today in a challenge to the definition of the word headquarters.
One wit joked, “those are company branches, not headquarters.” Others charged the decisions had already been made, questioning the motives behind the search for HQ2 and noting that Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos owns homes in NYC and DC (as well as in California, Texas, and Washington state).
Politicians in cities in North America went cuckoo in an effort to attract Amazon over the past year, and today’s announcement demonstrates what’s at stake (jobs, jobs, jobs):
“Amazon will invest $5 billion and create more than 50,000 jobs across the two new headquarters locations, with more than 25,000 employees each in New York City and Arlington,” it stated, and, “Amazon’s investments in each new headquarters will spur the creation of tens of thousands of additional jobs in the surrounding communities. Hiring at both the new headquarters will begin in 2019.”
In addition, Amazon announced that it has selected Nashville for a new Center of Excellence for its Operations business, which is responsible for the company’s customer fulfillment, transportation, supply chain, and other similar activities. The Operations Center of Excellence in Nashville will create more than 5,000 jobs.
Amazon currently employs 610,000 worldwide, including over 250,000 in North America.
You can read the details in the Amazon press release.
Arlington Virginia across from DC. Makes sense to be close to the lobbyists to make sure that Amazons best interests are served. New York makes no sense.