151–160 of 490 posts
Minnesota. Budget surplus, tons of F500 companies / large companies to recruit from and a strong university system, with lots of other states to draw from, being the largest city in the area, save Chicago.
Pros: -Dirt cheap, so lots of land for Amazon
-Also means employees can afford their own houses, practically unthinkable for a new hire in Seattle. Bigger perk than foosball tables!!!
-Scores of Upstate/Midwest colleges and universities to recruit talent from
-Proximity to major markets of the East Coast, the Midwest, and Ontario.
Cons:
-Snow
-New York State taxes; abatement not as likely as in other states
-Erie County population not quite 1 million
-Snow
-The Bills always blow it, it's like they're cursed.
-Did I mention snow?
Buffalo might not be the best location for Amazon, but it very well could be a good place to grow a company without spending half of your money on expensive property, and the other half on salaries high enough to afford exorbitant rents.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yup. "Amazon seeks a city to provide cushy tax credits in exchange for vague, unenforceable promises of job creation" would've been a more accurate headline.
I understand (and largely share) the annoyance about these sorts of tax breaks, but as a software developer, it seems obvious that having an Amazon headquarters in my city would result in lots of job opportunities for me - not just at Amazon, but at other software companies that locate nearby over time due to the increased concentration of workers. So I don't understand your skepticism at the "job creation" part.
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.
CEOs always locate headquarters were they want to live.
My city (Louisville) would be a prime candidate due to proximity to UPS WorldPort, and Amazon already has a bunch of facilities here. That said, screw these guys. I'll make sure to have my voice heard if my city tries to offer them tax rebates to come here. Everyone needs to pay taxes, especially gigantic corporations. I hate that companies like this even have the nerve to expect these sorts of breaks.
Everyone needs to pay taxes Why is this different than New Hampshire competing with other states by having no income tax?
Those tax dollars are better spent making the city more attractive to people and improving the universities. This will provide for more organic growth through startups founded by people anchored to the city by their social network.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd also say the research triangle, Salt lake city, Austin, Chicago, the twin cities, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati
Cincinnati isn't a good choice. It has a modest tech scene and no great CS/CE universities. Columbus is a far better choice.
Anywhere Amazon puts a HQ is going to have a pretty decent tech scene pretty rapidly.
> no great CS/CE universities
Columbus is 90 minutes away, and Amazon recruits internationally. Close proximity to a good CS program is hardly a strict necessity.
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) i…
Thinking about what cities should lay out the red carpet, if I were a city official in, say, St. Louis or Detroit, I'd be putting together an incentive plan worth billions. Amazon could turn around an entire mid-size city.