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Amazon expected to announce NYC and Northern Virginia as new headquarters

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Re: Amazon expected to announce NYC and Northern Virginia as new headquarters

#111

Post by dunpeal »

wpietri wrote: post #102
dunpeal wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doubt it was a factor with Bezos. The guy is rich enough to live anywhere, and has houses everywhere, as you also observed. Somehow the office didn't land in Beverly Hills or the Texas ranch. I expect the fact that he already has homes in NYC and DC is related to the fact they are in fact important locations for his business.

Most CEOs are rich enough to move. But they are also powerful enough to get the company to move to a location more convenient or appealing to them.

Sure, but he has lived in Seattle for a long time, what makes you think he wants to move to NYC?

The office in NYC is going to be nothing more than a big satellite office compared to the huge HQ in Seattle, so it's not like he's actually moving Amazon's HQ and himself to NYC. In fact I doubt he'd spend that much time there. Given his duties, he'll probably be in Seattle most of the time.

Also, I very much doubt the office in DC is there because Bezos is just dying to spend more time in DC ;-)

Re: Amazon expected to announce NYC and Northern Virginia as new headquarters

#113

Post by moron4hire »

NoVA is a great place to raise a family. For that reason, I'm actually kind of disappointed in Amazon choosing to setup HQ here. We have our own tech industry here, one that is very focused on and around professional services, and it works for us. We aren't defined by dude-bro culture--I think it's difficult to say that any East Coast city is defined by any specific culture. If Amazon comes to DC in the same way they set up in Seattle, it's not going to be a nice ride for the 20 million rest of us who live and grew up in this area.

Re: Amazon expected to announce NYC and Northern Virginia as new headquarters

#114

Post by mayukh »

gkanai wrote: post #17

I agree with Scott Galloway who has both predicted the outcome and has called this a sham 'contest.' Galloway said that Bezos was always going to pick one of the coastal cities where he has a second/third home. By doing this 'contest' Amazon was able to get cities to compete with each other to provide tax incentives to Amazon and was also able to get valuable private information on the cities that Amazon can use in t…

Can you point us to some links (older than a few weeks) where SG says this. Everyone is a pundit when they know the outcome. Also what valuable private data did they gain from these cities exactly? Their proposed investment/infrastructure plans?? Amazon probably has better/more useful data than any local govt organization.

Re: Amazon expected to announce NYC and Northern Virginia as new headquarters

#116

Post by syndacks »

CPLX wrote: post #33
Aloha wrote: post #6

I feel this choice is a mistake for the company long term, they're putting resources into two very hot housing and real estate markets, that have no real draw (in my opinion) for technical employees. Hew York is high tax (compared to Washington), unpleasant weather, overall high costs, and has a housing shortage, Washington DC, once described has having "Southern Efficiency, and Northern Charm" has similar issues of…

New York is literally the greatest city in the history of world civilization and the planetary capital of finance, media, business, fashion and culture. It’s easily the largest city in the country, and iconic globally. But you’re finding it hard to understand why people might want to live here? I’d post more but my New York life is veritable cornucopia of novel and enriching experiences and I’d better get back to it.…

It's the greatest city, currently, in the USA for sure. In the history of the world, that's impossible to say.

Amsterdam is pretty dope for example.

Re: Amazon expected to announce NYC and Northern Virginia as new headquarters

#117

Post by akhilcacharya »

jakevoytko wrote: post #81
jowiar wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the great parts of being in NYC is having friends who aren’t “in tech”. Tech is an industry here, and there’s a massive network where you’re not tying yourself to one company though your move, but it doesn’t define the culture of the city.

I don't think this can be understated. My friends and I don't even TALK about tech because not all of my friends are in tech. I have friends that are in completely different industries, like media, theater, urban planning, education, finance, journalism, etc. You meet people who are making it as artists or going for their PhD. There's a vibrant Meetup scene. And if you live near a friend, you can literally just walk…

I always thought that was such a strange reason. Never really got the obsession with having friends in other industries, which isn’t that hard to have in Seattle or Boston or Raleigh either.

Re: Amazon expected to announce NYC and Northern Virginia as new headquarters

#118

Post by c3534l »

tptacek wrote: post #91
c3534l wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Show me a single Michelin Star restaurant in the entire United States located in a strip mall. And besides, if they put Michelin Star restaurants in strip malls, they probably wouldn't be the marker of not much going on that they currently are.

It didn't even occur to you to simply Google "michelin star" "strip mall"? Of course there are starred restuarants in strip malls.

I searched Michelin Star restaurants in the US and looked through them and couldn't find any, then posed the challenge. So, yeah, no I didn't actually Google that and I should have.

Re: Amazon expected to announce NYC and Northern Virginia as new headquarters

#119

Post by bilbo0s »

wpietri wrote: post #77
gkanai wrote: post #17

I agree with Scott Galloway who has both predicted the outcome and has called this a sham 'contest.' Galloway said that Bezos was always going to pick one of the coastal cities where he has a second/third home. By doing this 'contest' Amazon was able to get cities to compete with each other to provide tax incentives to Amazon and was also able to get valuable private information on the cities that Amazon can use in t…

Whoa. Bezos indeed has homes in NYC and Washington DC. (As well as Seattle, Beverly Hills, and a ranch in Texas. [1]) I can't find it now, but years ago The Economist ran an article about a study that said a key factor in corporate headquarter moves was where the CEO lives. Disappointing to see it play out like that on such a grand scale, and after such a pretense of a nationwide search. Yet another thing that convin…

I think it may have been a factor with NoVA. But the logical place for HQ2 was always NYC. There was a large confluence of factors, but the two most important being logistics and access to a super-sized community of technology experts. (No other city can really match NYC's transport links, by air, land, or sea. So if you were going for the whole "sun never sets on the British Empire" thing, then it would almost have to be NYC.)

NoVA is a little more perplexing? I think it may have been, as you said, DC is Bezos' home. And it's DC, so there's a lot of government type stuff there. I don't know? Maybe Bezos is the reason HQ2 was split into HQ2A and HQ2B? Because if you have NYC, I'm not sure why you need anyplace else?

Re: Amazon expected to announce NYC and Northern Virginia as new headquarters

#120

Post by SeanLuke »

sonnyblarney wrote: post #19
Aloha wrote: post #6

I feel this choice is a mistake for the company long term, they're putting resources into two very hot housing and real estate markets, that have no real draw (in my opinion) for technical employees. Hew York is high tax (compared to Washington), unpleasant weather, overall high costs, and has a housing shortage, Washington DC, once described has having "Southern Efficiency, and Northern Charm" has similar issues of…

NYC has a lot of developers, more than the valley. It's already a 'draw' of sorts, this is an advantage. "DC, access to policymakers - but I see no real strategic advantages here." Amazon is going to become the #1 IT vendor of choice for the biggest government of the world AND reach their tentacles deep into the political arena for all sorts of other benefits. Military, FBI, CIA, Gov, Fannie/Freddie. All huge . Also…

These silly New Yorkers, with no sense of anything outside Manhattan.

Put aside government -- which is enormous -- and DC has:

- A long Internet history. MAE-East. UUNet. AOL. Equinix. Network Solutions. Microstrategy.

- Let's not discuss the one of the single largest tech regions in the country: the Dulles Technology Corridor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dulles_Technology_Corridor

- A huge Big Data industry fed by (besides government) stuff like DC's ginormous genomics and bioinformatics industries, financial regulation groups, you name it. FINRA is in DC. So is Capital One.

- Amazon Web Services is already in DC.

- The three highest income counties in the country.

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