Amazon is on the hunt for a second headquarters, dubbed HQ2, as it expands and its current home in Seattle doesn’t have capacity for the expansion required to cope with the company’s ongoing, extraordinary growth.
Amazon say the new HQ will be a “full equal” the current mothership in Seattle and Amazon is looking for a city that has “the presence and support of a diverse population”, “a strong university system” and “an overall high quality of life”. They also want easy access to transportation such as airports too. And doubtless a sweetheart deal on tax too. The second HQ will be a $5bn facility and be home to 50k jobs. It’s obvious plenty of cities would want to be Amazon’s second home and various cities in the US and Canada are vying for the prize.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos says: “Amazon HQ2 will bring billions of dollars in upfront and ongoing investments, and tens of thousands of high-paying jobs. We’re excited to find a second home.” They have created a page with full information about what they’re looking for here.
And one town has come up wth a cute little plan to attract the company. A town on the outskirts of Atlanta Georgia that you’ll likely never have heard of, Stonecrest, has offered to name a new town Amazon if the ecommerce giant sets up home there.
The mayor and council voted 4-2 to “de-annex” 345 acres of land and ask the Georgia General Assembly to use it to form Amazon, Georgia. Mayor Jason Lary said: “There are several major U.S. cities that want Amazon, but none has the branding opportunity we are now offering this visionary company.”
It’s unlikely that this, admittedly clever, little publicity stunt will swing the deal for Amazon but Atlanta is one of the cities that has a strong case to host HQ2.
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In further news … London will be renamed “Apple”, Manchester will be called “China National Petroleum”, Birmingham will be “Exxon Mobil” and Nottingham will be “G4S”.