Amazon has begun the search for a second North American headquarters, promising to spend more than $5billion constructing the new campus and employing as many as 50,000 people wherever it chooses.
‘We’re excited to find a second home,’ CEO Jeff Bezos said Thursday, adding that the new headquarters dubbed ‘HQ2’ will be ‘a full equal’ to the company’s existing home office in Seattle.
The company has invited cities and states to make their case to host the new HQ, in what promises to be a mad scramble to win the lucrative honor of hosting Amazon’s second campus.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (pictured in March) said Thursday that the new headquarters, dubbed ‘HQ2’, will be ‘a full equal’ to the company’s existing Seattle headquarters
Amazon estimates that its existing headquarters (pictured) in downtown Seattle had injected $26billion into Seattle’s economy in payroll alone between 2010 and 2016
Amazon estimates that it has injected $26billion into Seattle’s economy in payroll alone between 2010 and 2016.
It also attracted an additional $38billion in indirect benefits to the local economy as a result of its headquarters there, the company estimates.
The Seattle office spans 33 buildings and more than 8million square feet.
There are 24 restaurants and cafes within Amazon’s Seattle campus alone, where more than 40,000 people are employed.
The increase in personal income around the Seattle headquarters for people not employed by Amazon increased by about $17 billion due to direct investments, according to the company.
The company gave few hints about where it was looking, but did say it is looking at metropolitan areas with populations of more than a million that have the potential to attract top technical talent.
Amazon will hire thousands of new workers, but also said that people working at its Seattle headquarters will have the option of seeking a spot at the new site.
A ‘biosphere’ is seen under construction at Amazon’s Seattle headquarters in June 2016. The company is soliciting proposals for its new HQ with a deadline of October 19
The company has created a website where cities and states can submit their proposals to host the second headquarters.
The deadline for submitting completed proposals is October 19, 2017.
The final site selection and announcement will occur in 2018, the company said.
As to why Amazon is conducting the search so publicly, the company said on the website: ‘We want to find a city that is excited to work with us and where our customers, employees, and the community can all benefit.’