Daily Management Review

Amazon refuses to build headquarter in New York


02/15/2019


Amazon unexpectedly decided not to build a new headquarters in New York, reports BusinessInsider.



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Amazon received a refusal from some New York politicians who were dissatisfied with the fact that the companies promised tax breaks worth almost $ 3 billion.

The world's largest online retailer, Amazon, said on Thursday that it was abandoning construction of a campus in New York, on which it was planned to spend $ 2.5 billion and provide 25,000 people with jobs. In November 2018, the company announced that it would deploy a new headquarters in two cities. It was assumed that the campuses will be built in the New York area of Long Island City and the urban area of Crystal City in Arlington County in northern Virginia.

Construction of the New York campus was expected to be supported by state and city grants worth about $ 3 billion. This caused discontent among local lawmakers who opposed subsidizing one of the most expensive companies in the world.

"A survey of New Yorkers shows that 70% of support our plans and investments. However, a number of politicians said that they oppose our presence and will not cooperate with us to establish the type of relationship that is required to promote the project "- the company noted.

"We are disappointed that we came to this decision. We love New York," the company said in its blog, adding that 5,000 employees are already working in the city and the staff is planned to be expanded.

Amazon does not intend to resume the process of finding a site for the second campus of the new headquarters. The company will continue to implement the campus construction plan in Crystal City.

Amazon’s headquarters is currently located in Seattle, where the online retailer is the largest employer. Its staff is 45 thousand employees.

“After much thought and reflection, we decided to abandon the plan to build a headquarters in Long Island City (Queens),” an Amazon press release said."

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo threatened to hold accountable those politicians whose position influenced Amazon’s decision to abandon plans to establish a new headquarters in Queens.

source: businessinsider.com