Amazon has announced its intention to build a new, second headquarters complex in North America, which would reportedly cost up to $5 billion to build and run, and include 50,000 “high-paying” jobs.
“In addition to Amazon’s direct hiring and investment, construction and ongoing operation of Amazon HQ2 is expected to create tens of thousands of additional jobs and tens of billions of dollars in additional investment in the surrounding community,” reported Business Wire, which also posted a list of Amazon’s requirements for the new location. “Amazon HQ2 will be a complete headquarters for Amazon – not a satellite office.”
“Amazon expects to hire new teams and executives in HQ2, and will also let existing senior leaders across the company decide whether to locate their teams in HQ1, HQ2 or both,” they continued. “The company expects that employees who are currently working in HQ1 can choose to continue working there, or they could have an opportunity to move if they would prefer to be located in HQ2.”
Amazon’s list of requirements states the location should be a “metropolitan area” with “more than one million people,” a “stable and business-friendly environment,” and an “urban or suburban” location “with the potential to attract and retain strong technical talent.”
“We expect HQ2 to be a full equal to our Seattle headquarters,” said Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, who was briefly the richest man in the world this year, in a statement. “Amazon HQ2 will bring billions of dollars in up-front and ongoing investments, and tens of thousands of high-paying jobs. We’re excited to find a second home.”
Following Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods last month, the company quickly cut prices of products at the supermarket chain, and started to promote and sell Amazon’s Echo speakers in-store.
Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington and Gab @Nash, or like his page at Facebook.