Amazon announces its list of 20 candidates for second headquarters.

January 18, 2018, 02:36 PM

tatortodd

quote:
Originally posted by oldfireguy:
quote:
Perhaps more taxes will keep them in Washington?

You mean there is another state that charges a business more taxes than Washington?

With Inslee and crowd in control I would look for Amazon, Boeing, and others to start moving out of state.

Tax Foundation's Ranking Corporate Taxes on the 2018 State Business Tax Climate Index shows 4 worse states

Although, Corporate Tax shouldn't be the only consideration at states have other ways of getting their pound of flesh. For example, Texas has a high corporate tax making it #49, but lower other taxes (e.g. unemployment tax) which moves it to #13 overall business climate. Washington is #46 in Corporate Taxes but ok on other taxes so it's #17 overall business climate. Here is Tax Foundation's 2018 State Business Tax Climate Index

January 18, 2018, 02:58 PM

YellowJacket

Atlanta and Austin seem the most likely candidates, imo.

January 18, 2018, 03:17 PM

wishfull thinker

quote:
Originally posted by YellowJacket:
Atlanta and Austin seem the most likely candidates, imo.

How did you come to that conclusion? I'm not arguing with you, I'm curious to know how you got there?

January 18, 2018, 03:19 PM

Yellow Jacket

I think Amazon is looking for the biggest sucker they can find.

January 18, 2018, 03:34 PM

wishfull thinker

quote:
Originally posted by Yellow Jacket:
I think Amazon is looking for the biggest sucker they can find.

I am now confidant that you understand the nuances involved in a mega-enterprise of this sort. Concur.

January 18, 2018, 03:37 PM

Prefontaine

quote:
Originally posted by sigspecops:
I hope it’s not Dallas. We’ve got too many people here already and the housing shortage is driving real estate prices sky high.

+1. Thanks to Commiefornia. Big increases in property taxes. Traffic is getting as bad as Austin now. It sucks.

January 18, 2018, 03:38 PM

Perception

One more for please not Nashville. We're full.

"The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people."
"Odd," said Arthur, "I thought you said it was a democracy."
"I did," said Ford, "it is."
"So," said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, "why don't the people get rid of the lizards?"
"It honestly doesn't occur to them. They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates the government they want."
"You mean they actually vote for the lizards."
"Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course."
"But," said Arthur, going for the big one again, "why?"
"Because if they didn't vote for a lizard, then the wrong lizard might get in."

January 18, 2018, 03:41 PM

cyberiad

quote:
Originally posted by wishfull thinker:
quote:
Originally posted by Yellow Jacket:
I think Amazon is looking for the biggest sucker they can find.

I am now confidant that you understand the nuances involved in a mega-enterprise of this sort. Concur.

I agree. Any benefit to the local economy will disappear in the deal Amazon negotiates. My guess is they have already narrowed it down to 2 or 3 and will just use the bids to play off against each other.

January 18, 2018, 03:42 PM

qxsoup

Mark my words... Toronto or Boston.

January 18, 2018, 03:48 PM

TMats

There’s several cities on the list that I can’t believe they’re considering. It’ll probably be fukkin’ Denver. It’s not near jacked up enough around there.

January 18, 2018, 03:57 PM

nhracecraft

Sooo, how many of these candidate cities on the 'short list' are Democrat run Liberal Utopias?

January 18, 2018, 03:58 PM

YellowJacket

quote:
Originally posted by wishfull thinker:
quote:
Originally posted by YellowJacket:
Atlanta and Austin seem the most likely candidates, imo.

How did you come to that conclusion? I'm not arguing with you, I'm curious to know how you got there?

Austin just because it is Austin. I think it is culturally the most enticing for a company like Amazon. Lots of economic incentives from Texas and tons of higher education.

Atlanta because of the airport, the state's economy is at or near the top of the nation lately, it checks off all of the mass transit requirements, and it is nowhere near as densely populated as many of the other "big" cities on the list. And this might sound like homerism, but Georgia Tech is a huge draw in the tech industry right now.

As this article says, Nashville, the research triangle or Charlotte in NC are also strong competitors but lack some of the "big city" amenities.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/2...ew-headquarters.html

January 18, 2018, 04:15 PM

Aeteocles

quote:
Originally posted by mark123:
I'm wondering why they chose all big cities. Wouldn't it make more sense to build warehouses and shipping stations in small towns outside of city limits? Lower property cost, less tax burden, lower cost workforce, etc.

Am I looking at it wrong?

Amazon is a tech company. It just happens that its tech makes internet retailing lucrative, but the core of its business has always been tech driven.

A second "headquarters" will likely be full of white collar type folks in HR, Advertising, Data Analytics, Software Engineers in Droves, and Management type folks. They've got hardware development that tries to compete with Apple and Google, they've got streaming services that competes with Netflix and Spotify, they're competing with Uber for on-demand driving services with their courier deliveries, and something like up to 70 percent of global internet traffic goes through one of Amazon's cloud computing farms. Even if you ignore the things that aren't retail related, the retailing business itself has thousands of people who won't ever schlep a package anytime during their day.

Shipping and whatnot is all done via regional and local warehouses. I've never received anything shipped directly from Seattle. They're going to locate their headquarters in places where Google, Apple, Uber, etc would locate their headquarters--because those are the places where the good employees are.

January 18, 2018, 04:18 PM

mark_a

Pulling hard for anywhere but Nashville. We don't need any more insane liberals in the area and I like the airport as it is just fine. No need to increase traffic...

January 18, 2018, 04:53 PM

FishOn

quote:
Originally posted by Skins2881:
One of the sites is a three minute drive from my house. I praying they pick my location, should add 10%+ to home value and will mean I can likely rent it for a pretty penny.

Amazon announces its list of 20 candidates for second headquarters

While the race is far from over, Amazon (AMZN) announced Thursday it has narrowed down its list of 238 proposals from across to the U.S., Canada, and Mexico to 20 candidates, who all hope they will get a chance to become the e-commerce giant’s second headquarters.

“Thank you to all 238 communities that submitted proposals. Getting from 238 to 20 was very tough – all the proposals showed tremendous enthusiasm and creativity,” Holly Sullivan at Amazon Public Policy said in a statement. “Through this process we learned about many new communities across North America that we will consider as locations for future infrastructure investment and job creation.”

Amazon said it evaluated each of the proposals based on the criteria outlined in the request for proposal (RFP) to create the list of finalists that will continue on to the next stage.

Over the next couple months, the company said it plans to work with each of the candidate locations to dive deeper into their proposals as well as evaluate the feasibility of a future partnership that can accommodate the company’s hiring plans. Amazon added that it expects to make a final decision this year.

Amazon’s new HQ2 will be a complete headquarters, with plans to invest over $5 billion and create as many as 50,000 high-paying jobs.

Here is the list of the 20 metropolitan areas that are moving to the next phase (in alphabetical order):

- Atlanta, Ga.
- Austin, Texas
- Boston, Mass.
- Chicago, Ill.
- Columbus, Ohio
- Dallas, Texas
- Denver, Colo.
- Indianapolis, Ind.
- Los Angeles, Calif.
- Miami, Fla.
- Montgomery County, Md.
- Nashville, Tenn.
- Newark, N.J.
- New York City, N.Y.
- Northern Virginia, Va.
- Philadelphia, Pa.
- Pittsburgh, Pa.
- Raleigh, N.C.
- Toronto, Ontario
- Washington, D.C.

Probably 20-30% increase in value

My first guess before the studies was Austin. I believe they will pick a red state to even the political energy. Bezos is a businessman first, and I think he wants to have support from both sides of the aisle.

January 18, 2018, 05:38 PM

Hay2bale

quote:
Originally posted by Aeteocles:
quote:
Originally posted by mark123:
I'm wondering why they chose all big cities. Wouldn't it make more sense to build warehouses and shipping stations in small towns outside of city limits? Lower property cost, less tax burden, lower cost workforce, etc.

Am I looking at it wrong?

Amazon is a tech company. It just happens that its tech makes internet retailing lucrative, but the core of its business has always been tech driven.

A second "headquarters" will likely be full of white collar type folks in HR, Advertising, Data Analytics, Software Engineers in Droves, and Management type folks. They've got hardware development that tries to compete with Apple and Google, they've got streaming services that competes with Netflix and Spotify, they're competing with Uber for on-demand driving services with their courier deliveries, and something like up to 70 percent of global internet traffic goes through one of Amazon's cloud computing farms. Even if you ignore the things that aren't retail related, the retailing business itself has thousands of people who won't ever schlep a package anytime during their day.

Shipping and whatnot is all done via regional and local warehouses. I've never received anything shipped directly from Seattle. They're going to locate their headquarters in places where Google, Apple, Uber, etc would locate their headquarters--because those are the places where the good employees are.

Right, there won't be packages going through the new facility. This is a Headquarters - actually a SECOND Headquarters - with 50,000 employees that will add overhead to every product that we purchase from Amazon.

I wonder about the long term viability and profitability of Amazon.