Amazon Not Commenting on Second Headquarters

Amazon Not Commenting on Second Headquarters

People in several American cities are wondering: where will the company Amazon build its new second headquarters?

A recent news report in The Wall Street Journal said Amazon will divide its new headquarters between two cities. The report said the company is considering Queens in New York City; Arlington, Virginia; and Dallas, Texas. The New York Times reports that Dallas is not being considered and the two cities are Queens and Arlington.

Amazon will keep its current headquarters in Seattle, Washington.

Spokesman Adam Sedo said Amazon refused to comment on the reports.

Amazon’s decision to build another headquarters caused major American cities to compete with each other. Many cities hoped for the 50,000 new jobs the company promised. Amazon said most of the new jobs will pay a lot of money.

Amazon told the cities that it wanted financial incentives: such as lower taxes and other deals. It also wanted a city with more than 1 million people, a close airport, good public transportation and a lot of land.

The company received 238 proposals and chose 20 of them in January.

The unusual decision to divide the 50,000 jobs between two cities will permit the company to find the right people for the jobs. It also could reduce pressure for housing and transportation, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The New York Times reported that company officials met last month with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. The newspaper said the state offered possibly hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives. Amazon also met with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, the newspaper reported.

The New York Times reported that the governor said, “I’ll change my name to Amazon Cuomo if that’s what it takes.”

Amazon has said it could spend more than $5 billion on the new headquarters over the next 17 years. This is about the same as it has spent in Seattle, which has 33 buildings, 23 restaurants and 40,000 employees.

Amazon’s Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos has said the new headquarters will be “a full equal” to the one in Seattle.

Amazon employs about 600,000 people. That number is expected to increase as it builds more storage buildings across the country to satisfy online orders for products.

I’m Susan Shand.

The Associate Press reported this story. Susan Shand adapted this story for Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor.

Words in This Story

incentive – n. something that encourages a person to do something or to work harder

proposal – n. a plan or suggestion that is presented to a person or group of people to consider