Amazon chooses the New York and Washington area for a new $ 5 billion headquarters



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Chooses US Political and Financial Capitals for New Divided Headquarters, Announcing Tuesday Construction of Office Space for More than 25,000 People in New York City and Near Downtown Washington, DC

The world's largest online retailer plans to spend $ 5 billion on the two new developments and plans to benefit from more than $ 2 billion in tax credits and incentives, with $ 1 billion in new money. intend to ask for more.

His move ends on a frenzied year. bidding war between cities across North America, dividing the location between two finalists. In addition, Nashville, Tennessee, will become Amazon's fourth largest US office outside of Seattle, with more than 5,000 technology and management-focused jobs for its sales operation unit in Seattle. detail.

With more than 610,000 workers worldwide, Amazon is already based in Seattle. One of the largest employers in the United States and the third most valuable company in the world, behind Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. .

Alphabet Inc however, faces a fierce competition for talent. ] Google and other companies, which regularly offer free food and other benefits under the Californian sun, are seen by many to be a better badet than Amazon's relative frugality in Seattle, a city in the rain.

"These two sites will allow us to attract world-clbad talent," Jeff Bezos, general manager of the company and the richest in the world, said in a statement,

. Long Island City, just on the other side of the East River compared to downtown Manhattan, Amazon talked about neighborhood breweries, waterside parks and waterfalls. easy access to public transport. The old industrial zone also has a clock that counts the hours up to the end of the first presidential term of US President Donald Trump.

The choice of Arlington, Virginia, could give Amazon greater political influence in the neighboring US capital, where it already has one of the largest lobbying shops in the city.

Bezos is a privately held Washington Post corporation, which wrote critical articles about Trump and, in turn, was often targeted by the president. The newspaper retains full editorial independence from its owner.

The choice of Amazon largely bypbaded the central United States, where many cities had hoped for economic recovery and an offer of employment.

"My heart is broken today," said Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings.

Amazon already has more cities in New York and Washington among its largest bases of technology employees, after Seattle and the San Francisco Bay Area.

TAX FEES

At the beginning of the search conducted at the head office last year, Amazon had stated that she was looking for a business-friendly environment, in addition to helping to recruit workers .

The company announced Tuesday that it would receive direct incentives based on the performance of $ 1.525 billion from the state of New York, primarily for the creation of 25,000 jobs. This equates to $ 48,000 per job.

He may also request other tax incentives, including New York City's relocation and employment badistance program, which provides annual tax breaks of $ 3,000 per year. job, a potential value of $ 900 million over 12 years for Amazon.

In Virginia, Amazon will receive direct performance-based incentives of $ 573 million, based on 25,000 jobs and $ 22,000 per capita profit. Virginia Tech announced Tuesday that it plans to build a $ 1 billion technology campus in Alexandria, just two kilometers from Amazon's new headquarters.

Overall, Amazon will benefit from an increase of more than $ 2 billion for new offices, in addition According to a database of Good Jobs First, a Washington, DC-based government policeman $ 1965 said it has invested $ 160 billion in the United States since 2010, including in the United States. warehouses, data centers and employee compensation.

The new offices will generate more than $ 14 billion in additional tax revenue for New York, Virginia and Tennessee over the next two decades, Amazon said. The company expects an average salary of over $ 150,000 for employees in each new office.

HOUSING CRISIS

Amazon's focus on new, high-paying jobs came under free publicity as it was criticized for low wages in its large warehouses.

Amazon has garnered media attention of $ 148 million in the English-language press in the two months following the launch of its new head office search in September, according to MediaQuant, a media measurement and badysis firm. Inc.

. Amazon had received 238 proposals to host its next base after Seattle. New York and Virginia beat 18 other finalists in January, including Los Angeles and Chicago.

At the beginning of the contest, New Jersey hit the headlines with $ 7 billion in potential credits against state and city taxes if Amazon in Newark met its hiring commitments.

Other less promising have taken a more creative approach: The Mayor of Stonecrest, in the Atlanta suburb, Jason Lary, said that he would create a new city from industrial lands called Amazon and would name Bezos his mayor for life.

When evaluating its options, Amazon looked at the quality of schools, a key factor in worker satisfaction. The company evaluated the results of local tests for admission to the university and met with general managers to discuss science and mathematics education.

The way the negotiations unfolded was not clear once Amazon's installed on several offices, which Reuters and other media reported the last week. [19659003] The company has already faced similar problems on its urban campus of more than 45,000 people located in Seattle. An affordable housing crisis prompted the city council to adopt a business tax entry in May, which Amazon helped overturn at a subsequent vote of the city council.

Some critics had called for more transparency on the part of cities and states in the bid process, warning that the benefits of hosting a large Amazon office would not possibly outweigh the incentives funded by taxpayers or other costs.

"Amazon is one of the richest societies in the world, but you can not put a price on the contribution of the community, which was omitted throughout this process" [19459012NewYorkCityCouncilPresidentCoreyJohnsonsaidinastatement

Amazon's shares were up slightly in the noon trade.

(Reportage of Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco, additional reportage of Arjun Panchadar and Supantha Mukherjee in Bengaluru, Hilary Russ and Laila Kearney in New York, Suzanna Gonzales and Karen Pierog in Chicago, edited by Nick Zieminski, edited by Meredith Mazzilli and Bill Rigby)

(This story was not edited by Business Standard staff and is generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)

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