Amazon HQ2 thread

[Northern Light]

Originally Posted by denizen467

I thought of Toronto right away. But there are big problems. One is ability to relocate candidates from the US; you cannot staff this new HQ without drawing on the talent pool of the US to fill a substantial fraction of the workforce; just think of all the graduate students they would want to attract. Another problem is daily business trips to various US cities by the workforce; crossing the international border introduces uncertainty and delay, and you've got the concern of juggling two currencies. (Obviously, Londoners visiting the Continent for business is a counterexample, but it's not entirely analogous.) Finally, people in this new HQ are going to need to have their finger on the pulse of the US culturally, politically, legally, etc. Considering how intimately Amazon is interweaving itself into daily life and urban living, more deeply with each passing year, I think working in Toronto, and watching mainly hockey and following provincial parliamentary politics, etc., etc., would put people slightly out of touch with life in the US. (As another example, IIRC, Canadian TV stations by law are required to broadcast Canada-produced shows up to some large percentage of the day.) In sum, if we were talking about a turbine manufacturer, a drone developer, a gaming company, or some other single-line business, Toronto would be fine, but Amazon is too wide ranging an enterprise for Canada to work as their HQ for what largely is a USA market. Placing one of their divisions there might work though. P.S. Please get Blackberry back into shape, their decline does not make you look good, and pointing to Stevie's/Timmy's vanity spaceship in Cupertino is no excuse.

A few 'minor' corrections/clarifications.

1) All cable tv packages here have all of the US TV networks (NBC,CBS,ABC,PBS,FOX) a slew of other US channels are available electively (CNN, MSNBC, FOX News, etc etc). In addition, aside from the gov't owned networks (CBC, TVO and their french counterparts) the vast majority of non-news programming on Canada's private stations is also American. You can here Buffalo radio in Toronto, pick up a copy of the New York Times etc. In other words no difficulty keep abreast of all things American. The border is only 2 hours away by car.

Needless to say no one is watching Hockey in July, and with 300 channels, plenty of other choices in January too.

2) Toronto is the global headquarters for may international conglomerates, in a wide assortment of sectors.

An urban region of 8,000,000

A city where more languages are spoken than any other on earth, according to the UN.

Its more than capable of supporting Amazon

3) Currency change over is no big deal; and senior staff, if desired, could still be paid in USD, happens plenty.

4) Moving staff over the border is no big deal, one of Toronto's great advantages is that Canada accepts both permanent and temporary immigrants from all over w/relative ease.

[C.]

Some of the arguments made by the die hard city boosters... lol

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by Northern Light

A city where more languages are spoken than any other on earth, according to the UN.

Ha ha ha, is it for real? Or are you outrageously advertising your place? I want my mother tongue to finally dominate it then.

It is kind of Italian, somewhat English, a bit of Spanish and a little German, even Acadian! All embedded in a same huge slang!

My dear French is the crossroad of our narrow Western world, you'll have to admit. *overly proud*
Bah, I may be serious, that's kidding you at the same time... I don't mind too much writing in English. It's sort of cool to write.
Speaking it is just a different ugly story. lol

Frankly, I'd rather see Amazon be a brave and generous company and pick a second-rate city. That would be awesome to fit one's ideal.

[10023]

Originally Posted by subterranean

Oh is that right?

In cash.

Originally Posted by denizen467

^ Well if they're making an HQ2 that actually has more workers than Seattle, this policy could well change. In any event they'll pay what needs to be paid; I think this is not central to the location topic, especially if we agree they're probably going to avoid high cost locales like NY and SF.

Why? Seattle has a higher cost of living than most cities being discussed.

[10023]

Originally Posted by nature's calling

An opinion piece but still


http://www.marketwatch.com/story/here-ar...r-amazons-second-headquarters-2017-09-07

Tampa?

Originally Posted by mousquet

Frankly, I'd rather see Amazon be a brave and generous company and pick a second-rate city. That would be awesome to fit one's ideal.

Companies in second-tier cities tend to underperform over time (think Kodak in Rochester) because of isolation from the exchange of ideas and B-team talent. In fact I've long said that a plausible investment strategy could be to indentify sets of large competitors in various industries and take long positions in the ones that are based in alpha cities, while betting against those in more provincial cities.

Even Amazon needs to worry about recruiting talent, and having the right infrastructure of other industries around them. That said, we'll have to see whether this is really an 'HQ2' or just a giant back office full of programmers where no strategic decisions are made. In that case then cost is a bigger factor.

Originally Posted by mousquet

Well, the chosen city will be lucky anyway. Beyond Amazon's jobs, their strong presence should support a whole ecosystem of average- and small-sized IT businesses. That's where significant growth definitely is.

Amazon itself is already established all over the world. It seems it's been somewhat harder for such giant corporations to keep growing significantly, aside mergers which are mostly financial operations. Faster and bigger growth is in the network of small businesses that feed on them all around. Airbus in Toulouse comes to my mind. The same phenomenon must be perceived in Detroit with their automaker industry. And if you take a look at Germany's healthy economy, you realize that it's widely, maybe even mostly based on a giant fabric of small and average businesses.

This works in Europe because cities are closer together, and there is a good rail infrastructure connecting them. Also, quite simply, many midsize European cities are compelling places to live (I don't know Toulouse, but I would move to Lyon or Bordeaux if that was what I needed to do for my career).

That's not the case in the US. There are vast areas between metros, and there are many of them where no ambitious person without family ties to the area would ever willingly live.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by subterranean

Amazon’s salary cap is $160,000.

I don't think that's presently true, but even if it is, their offers nearly ALWAYS include a multi-year "signing bonus" paid out monthly and *significant* stock grants. A significant portion of their software engineering manager earn double that supposed salary cap.

Originally Posted by brian_b

LOL, I'm fairly certain that if Bezos and Emmanuel have had multiple discussions about this and then Amazon goes and announces a selection process, Chicago is not in the running.
...

Wow, I'd love to negotiate against you sometime, your view of how deals are done apparently includes not using leverage, not using bluffs, and not comparison shopping. Can I interest you in a stunning vintage bridge, perhaps?

[Northern Light]

Originally Posted by mousquet

Ha ha ha, is it for real? Or are you outrageously advertising your place?

There are always debates about how one defines diversity and how many people need to speak a language locally before you can say that a City has such a community.

But Toronto really does have a population that is 46% foreign born.

Only Dubai and Brussels have higher rates.


1.8 Million people here speak one or more languages in addition to English or French.

There are 500,000 speakers of Cantonese alone, over 100,000 each speakers of Mandarin, Tagalog and various Indo languages Hindi, Punjabi etc.

So we're certainly among the most linguistically and racially diverse.

[tdawg]

Many of the people on here boosting their cities, such as Raleigh-Durham, missed this one important demand by Amazon: on-site access to mass transit.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by CIA

Some of the arguments made by the die hard city boosters... lol

No kidding.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by CIA

Some of the arguments made by the die hard city boosters... lol

it's great entertainment!

there will be only one winner; my premature condolences to the dozens of loser cities in all of this.

[brian_b]

Originally Posted by subterranean

Amazon’s salary cap is $160,000.

Maybe for software developers it is.

[Eidolon]

nyc!!!

[Eidolon]

Delete

[brian_b]

Originally Posted by emathias

Wow, I'd love to negotiate against you sometime, your view of how deals are done apparently includes not using leverage, not using bluffs, and not comparison shopping. Can I interest you in a stunning vintage bridge, perhaps?

You had me at vintage!

[C.]

Originally Posted by 10023

Tampa?

Tampa is weak on the mass transit front, but I wouldn't dismiss Tampa - St. Pete completely. It has some things going for it - a lower cost of living than the northeast, a decent international airport, and access to graduates throughout the Florida schools. With the Market Watch map, it has much more competitive chance than say Bridgeport, CT, in my opinion, of course.

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by JManc

No kidding.

I fear this shit will never work here in Europe, but I suspect it would to some extent over there in 'murika.

That's not even sarcasm. To each their own recipes and specialties after all. Why not cheerleaders? At least, they're very very good at gym and even more or less can dance.
Though I'd rather rely on Latin Americans for stylish romantic dancing.

[JManc]

Who really cares where this HQ goes as long as I can order a bottle of shampoo, a box of protein bars and a table-saw at 2AM and have them all shipped to my front door the next day.

[nature's calling]

Originally Posted by 10023

Tampa?

I would agree that Tampa is among the least competitive choices

A lot of these graphs seem dubious at best but this CNBC graph is probably the most realistic of the bunch
https://public.tableau.com/profile/cnbc5283#!/vizhome/AMZNCHECKLIST/Dashboard2

[C.]

Originally Posted by nature's calling

I would agree that Tampa is among the least competitive choices

A lot of these graphs seem dubious at best but this CNBC graph is probably the most realistic of the bunch
https://public.tableau.com/profile/cnbc5283#!/vizhome/AMZNCHECKLIST/Dashboard2

The problem is they're not taking into account the cost of living. I would love if Amazon setup in NYC, but the cost of living of renting enough office space for 50,000 people, not to mention the salaries to attract top talent competitive.

$160,000 in NYC is just middle class.

[summersm343]

All Philadelphia has to do is show Amazon the marketing videos for Schuylkill Yards:
Schuylkill Yards - Where Ideas Converge

And the 30th Street Station District:
• Video Link

...literally EVERYTHING they're looking for and more, wrapped up into two videos.

#AmazonYardsPhiladelphia