Quote:
Originally Posted by ardecila
Yep. The good thing is, his people on the search team who ruled out NYC and DC (too expensive, very difficult to develop, hostile political climate) were proven 100% right when AOC and her local allies decided to wage war against the HQ2 in Queens.
Amazon is still getting major offices in NYC and DC, but they are not getting the elaborate urban campus they envisioned. Their offices will be just like the ones every other company has, which makes the whole HQ2 process a multi-year waste of time and money for everyone involved. Bezos could have just signed leases with developers in NYC and DC in the first place and avoided the whole 3-ring circus.
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I'd argue though that the Virginia campus will be more along the lines of a real-life actual hq2 (which they're still referring to it as), as opposed to just a major new secondary office:
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/12/amaz...-virginia.html
So if the anecdote from the times is accurate, it's really interesting because it sorta flies in the face of the company's reputation for being relentlessly data-driven, far into the details. The fact that gut would prevail on something so consequential.
Also, with respect to the decision re New York, I have many questions - it will be easy to go down the rabbit hole and OT anyway, so for another time and place.
Actually, the entire competition was in a way an incredibly huge data gathering and analysis exercise for them, and I'm sure it's valuable stuff that will bring dividends.