Originally Posted by denizen467
Not to beat a dead moose, and hopefully my last comment about Canada, but some here are missing the plot about what Amazon is and wants to be. This is not just relocating a hamburger headquarters or even a bank or a chipmaker. Amazon is arguably the most multifaceted and cutting edge company of the 21st century economy. From retailing, then to logistics, then to devices, then to hollywood style content, then to groceries; nobody knows what field next. They could literally buy a robotics company, or a cellular provider, or a movie chain, or a satellite launcher, or a pharmaceuticals company, or credit card company, or bank, next week (and they did just start a cargo airline). They cannot just tell huge fractions of those employees they have to move to Canada or lose their jobs. Also, they need legal services and, just as with Uber, they need to be deeply involved in government and policy as they literally help write 21st century laws about the airways for flying drones, or roadways for self driving trucks, or get digital protections for their content, and so on. For all that, they need to be in a US environment. I have a feeling they're not going to keep those functions in Seattle, because by moving eastwards, this new HQ2 will be closer to D.C. and other policy centers, and it should be handling a lot of that. (This is the big reason Boeing moved hq functions from Seattle to Chicago - to be within day-trip range of D.C.) For this reason I think Philadelphia has a very strong hand.
For almost any other conceivable huge company, Canada would be fantastic. I recognize all the cost and other advantages too. All I'm saying is, unless this is going to be an execution/operations facility or research farm, I think Amazon is far too unique and unpredictable to go there. There isn't really a knock against Canada in this, I stake a case of Labatt's on it.
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