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Last week, Amazon shocked many people by announcing that it was abandoning its agreement to set up a new headquarters in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, New York. It was just three months after the tech giant had announced that he was going to split his new headquarters between New York and Arlington, Virginia (suburb of Washington DC).
In fact, no one should be surprised by this decision.
This is because of a simple fact (that everyone seems to forget):
The split of the new headquarters between two cities has never been part of Amazon's original plan.
Let's go back to September 2017. It's at that time that the world's largest online retailer announced that he was looking for a second seat, one that CEO Jeff Bezos described as "an equal to full share "and" second house. " The company said it planned to spend up to $ 5 billion on a new business campus that could accommodate up to 50,000 employees.
Immediately, there was a mad rush to attract Amazon's attention. 238 cities submitted proposals. It's like a whole class of high school girls hoping desperately that the quarterback of the stars will take them to the prom.
Amazon executives took their time. More than a year later, a decision had yet to be announced.
Then, suddenly, a bomb: Amazon had chosen not one but two cities, thus separating the huge project between Arlington (Virginia) and Queens (New York).
Uh what? You will take two dates at the ball?
While Arlington welcomed Amazon with open arms (for the most part), a small group of politicians and activists in New York made it clear that Amazon was not welcome. The reasons they were complex were complex, but they included concerns about billions of dollars in tax relief for one of the world's richest corporations and what appeared to be an inevitable cost of living for neighborhood residents.
It was as if the parents of the (second) potential of the prom were starting to call every day, explaining why it was absolutely necessary do not take their child to prom.
And how they would make your life miserable if you did it.
What would you have done in this position?
Have you thought of yourself:
Uh, maybe taking two girls to prom prom was not a good idea after all. Plus, this other girl's parents really seem to love me.
That's what Amazon was thinking. They described the reasons for their withdrawal in an official statement:
"For Amazon, the commitment to build a new head office requires positive, collaborative relationships with local and local elected officials who will provide long-term support, although polls show that 70 per cent of New Yorkers support our plans and our investments, a number of local and state politicians made it clear that they opposed our presence and would not work with us to establish the type of relationships required to move the project forward that we and many others envisioned in Long Island City.
Some have accused Amazon of not being able to accept the criticism of some loud voices, even though the majority of New Yorkers were favorable to the arrival of the company. They claimed that Amazon had not bothered to negotiate or even discuss.
But this is not a surprise either. Amazon has never really earned the reputation of being a kind and kind negotiator.
After all, if you do not like their conditions, there are many others who will like it.
In this case, another 237 (to be exact).
Of course, this whole situation was delicate from the beginning. And there are surely enough things to be done.
Some questions will continue to numb people, especially those living in the Big Apple.
Did Amazon leave New York during the altar party?
Could all this have been avoided?
Should we hate the player or hate the game? Or both?
It depends a lot on your point of view.
But there is a question that is do not for the debate. We can answer it now, loud and clear:
Should we have seen all this coming from a mile and a half?
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