Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#121

Post by wcunning » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 2:06 PM UTC

barry-cotter wrote: post #106

wpietri wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there's so little talent Citation needed. For example, the University of Michigan's engineering school is well ranked in many areas, grants 3,000 degrees a year, and is an hour away: https://www.engin.umich.edu/about/facts/

I'd be quite surprised if Amazon hires less than 3,000 software engineers a quarter. U Michigan may be a good or great engineering school but if it's an hour away it rounds to part of the national market.

I went there, along with several of my friends. Most of them now work for Amazon, several in the extant Detroit office and commute there from just outside Ann Arbor. You'd be surprised at how easy an hour commute is in South-east Michigan, esp. compared to Cali or Jersey traffic.

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#122

Post by rb808 » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 2:07 PM UTC

I wonder if this will eventually be the main HQ. Amazon is a mass market company which competes on the lowest costs. Seattle is too expensive now. Most big retail stores are not based in expensive cities Walmart is based in Arkansas, Target in Minnesota etc.

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#123

Post by sillypuddy » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 2:08 PM UTC

mrep wrote: post #114

wow, that only leaves 10 cities with a population over a million: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_b...

Looks like Amazon is looking at metropolitan area instead of city limit.

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#124

Post by dpeterson » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 2:09 PM UTC

I think it's possible Amazon is not so much shopping for a second HQ as it is looking to move work from the high rent, pro union Seattle area. Only, they saw how much negative press Boeing received after making their true intentions known for moving work to southern states. Amazon is being sneakier. If all works out, long term I imagine much of their high end development work may move from Seattle.

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#125

Post by sillypuddy » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 2:12 PM UTC

johan_larson wrote: post #117

Is there a place that is so appealing it doesn't need to offer a discount? NYC? Boston?

Probably depends on priorities, the big cities will give you greater access to talent, but would require flexibility on how a campus could be built out and how quickly it would happen.

It's likely possible to build out a campus the way you want in a large urban center. Universities do it, but they do it opportunistically over a long time.

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#126

Post by bearforcenine » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 2:15 PM UTC

devmunchies wrote: post #108

Silicon Slopes? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Slopes - Population > 1,000,000 - Serviced by 2 great universities (UoU, BYU) - Utah is a top 5 state for # of Unicorn Companies From the wiki I shared: "The Utah Governor's Office of Economic Development allows a variety of grants and tax incentives to companies willing to either relocate or expand their enterprise" Note: I live in Seattle, not Utah.

Utah could be a great fit based on Amazon's preferences for a site if they build something along the I-15 corridor. It's within 30 miles of a population center, within 45 minutes to the airport, directly off a major highway, front runner rail stations run along I-15, and you might be able to find 100 acres of space - especially if they were to put it out where the prison is now (it's moving soon).

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#127

Post by cantbecool » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 2:15 PM UTC

ktorvald wrote: post #91

Portland, Philadelphia, Atlanta based on what Amazon wants / needs.

I could definitely envision a Philadelphia location. Comcast is building a new skyscraper as we speak with a ten year tax abatement. The local city government would easily grant them the same deal.

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#128

Post by mrep » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 2:16 PM UTC

sillypuddy wrote: post #123

mrep wrote: post #114

wow, that only leaves 10 cities with a population over a million: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_b...

Looks like Amazon is looking at metropolitan area instead of city limit.

your right. 53 is much more reasonable: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metropolitan_Statistic...

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#129

Post by arcanus » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 2:18 PM UTC

dforrestwilson wrote: post #77

jpatokal wrote: post #24

The RFP is rather more interesting than the marketing page: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/Anything... The 2nd criterion is basically the total amount of sweet, sweet taxpayer dollars available to subsidize them: Please provide a summary of total incentives offered for the Project by the state/province and local community. In this summary, please provide a brief description of the incentive item,…

This is exemplary of the type of sway which massively concentrated enterprises can have over governments, and will continue to have as more and more companies engage in M&A: http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/Brennan2016.pdf Replace HRC with Jeff Bezos and "algorithm" with "consumer": https://busy.org/life/@blakemiles84/clinton-book-excerptish-... At some point we're going to have to Bust the Trusts.

Teddy Roosevelt, where for out thou?

The trend, barring an exceptional individual, is for power to consolidate further in the hands of the megacorps.

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#130

Post by rtpg » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 2:18 PM UTC

jasode wrote: post #46

I think we can assume that Jeff Bezos saw how Elon Musk played the game in 2014 to find a location for Tesla's GigaFactory.[1][2][3] The upcoming stories for Amazon's high-profile decision will probably play out in a similar way. However, the particular candidate cities probably won't be the same since Elon was building a site for factory workers whereas Jeff is building a campus for more software developers. Therefo…

>The desire to attract tech employers like Amazon appears to be more competitive than winning the bid to host the Olympic Games.

And for good reason! There aren't many companies that people would be willing to move across the US to join.

People tend not to move around too much after University of their first job. Having another magnet to bring in people for relatively little (compared to a university's for example) is a great deal for a city.