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posted by martyb on Friday February 15 2019, @02:15AM   Printer-friendly
from the Bezos-asked-Alexa dept.

Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Headquarters

Amazon on Thursday canceled its plans to build an expansive corporate campus in New York City after facing an unexpectedly fierce backlash from lawmakers, progressive activists and union leaders, who contended that a tech giant did not deserve nearly $3 billion in government incentives.

The decision was an abrupt turnabout by Amazon after a much-publicized search for a second headquarters, which had ended with its announcement in November that it would open two new sites — one in Queens, with more than 25,000 jobs, and another in Virginia.

Amazon's retreat was a blow to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, damaging their effort to further diversify the city's economy by making it an inviting location for the technology industry.

The agreement to lure Amazon to Long Island City, Queens, had stirred intense debate in New York about the use of public subsidies to entice wealthy companies, the rising cost of living in gentrifying neighborhoods, and the city's very identity.

Also at the Long Island City Post, CNBC, CNN, and the Washington Post.

Previously: Amazon Said to be Close to Picking Crystal City, Virginia for Second Headquarters
Amazon Reportedly Picks New York, Northern Virginia for HQ2


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  • (Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Friday February 15 2019, @04:33AM (2 children)

    by RandomFactor (3682) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 15 2019, @04:33AM (#801400) Journal

    Companies of that size making decisions like that are going to have a number of people involved. This reduces shenanigans, but doesn't eliminate them.

    The stated reason was the availability of talent in New York.

    Fair enough. There probably is a really big talent pool available in NYC relative to other smaller cities.

    Queens in particular? No idea the thought process there. Altruism is certainly possible, but there are cheaper ways to be altruistic (and better for the company if it isn't a good HQ location) that can be pursued. Certainly Queens doesn't sound like the best option without other factors like goodwill in play.

    I would lean toward a combination of factors, with public perception being a significant one.
    Then at the last city council meeting not a single councilman defended Amazon or the deal to get them there. So that seems pretty reasonable to tip the scales away from that location.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 15 2019, @07:00AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 15 2019, @07:00AM (#801445)

    Probably having a headquarters inside a very large city with a wealthier-than-average population would be a good business decision if the cost of being there wasn't too high. Not having the 3 billion made costs higher than benefit.

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Friday February 15 2019, @03:46PM

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Friday February 15 2019, @03:46PM (#801577) Journal

    Long Island City, Queens, is a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood adjacent to Manhattan. It's full of hipsters and IT professionals who are starting families and who would rather not slog across the Queens Borough Bridge or through the Midtown Tunnel to Midtown. Also, it's close to subway stops that connect to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where other groups of IT people live, and close to stops on the Long Island Railroad so upper managers who live in the suburbs can get to work easily. Midtown bankers that Amazon likes to work with could easily cab across the bridge or tunnel to visit.

    So in terms of access to appropriate labor pools and transportation, the location makes sense.

    Cornell is building a technology campus on Roosevelt Island, which lies in the middle of the East River between Manhattan and Long Island City, so that would have been a feeder for Amazon also.

    I'm honestly surprised the whole thing fell through. Amazon is exactly the kind of employer NYC IT people like to work for. Also, in NYC developers get their way 99.99999% of the time.

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