Amazon looking for a second HQ

Taller said:

If they are looking for a city to give them billions, I doubt if that will be us unfortunately. Depends on what they are angling for with this "competition". I'm not really in favour of offering to pay most of the cost of setting up a business for such a hugely profitable business as Amazon. These types of massive funding rarely provide long term benefit.

Click to expand...

I agree - if they are looking for billions in subsidies (which of course is the entire reason for this exercise) it is unlikely that Toronto is in the running. I also think any Canadian city is an extremely long shot since most of the senior management at HQ2 will be American citizens and I doubt many would be willing to move to Canada especially a city like Toronto with such a high cost of living. For instance - a city like Boston has a lower cost of living and is an incubator for the type of talent Amazon is looking to hire (e.g. MIT) The D.C. metro area would also be a good location with its concentration of scientists and engineers and it is also where Jeff Bezos - who owns the Washington Post - has a home. Amazon also does 100's of millions in business with the CIA and NSA so having an HQ in D.C. region (incl. VA or MA) would make a lot of sense - If I were to place bets I would bet on the D.C. region (perhaps as far away as Philly)

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...l-itself-not-sell-out-its-citizens-james.html

Toronto is secure and confident enough to sell itself, not sell out its citizens: James
Our Amazon bid shows how far we have come from the days when we practically begged to host any international event.
Toronto is growing up, I think.
We are showing signs of maturity, displaying evidence that teenage angst is being replaced by young adult self confidence and assurance.
Take, for instance, the region’s response to e-commerce giant Amazon and the company’s ballsy, deliberate public play designed to pillage a willing “partner” of a city for massive tax breaks and incentives.
Everyone knows cities are hungry for new business. Say the word jobs or economic development and mayors fall over each other, city councillors lose their minds and city staff forget basic common sense in pursuit of the next Fortune 500 firm...


read it all here:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...l-itself-not-sell-out-its-citizens-james.html

https://www.geekwire.com/2017/alpha...me_post_analytics-analytics_suggested_article



Google sees big things in Toronto, and Sidewalk Labs CEO says Amazon might, too
by Monica Nickelsburg on November 1, 2017 at 5:15 pm





Sidewalk Labs wants to turn this stretch of undeveloped land into a high-tech new neighborhood. (Sidewalk Labs Photo)

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to clarify Doctoroff’s comments.
Sidewalk Labs CEO Dan Doctoroff is enamored with Toronto, where his company is partnering with the local government to build a high-tech waterfront neighborhood called Quayside. He’s so taken with Toronto that he thinks no other city will come close in Amazon’s HQ2 contest — that is, if the Seattle tech titan sees what he sees.
Doctoroff said so during a Town Hall in Toronto on Wednesday, chatting with Waterfront Toronto CEO Will Fleissig.
Here’s the exchange, which includes a couple of playful jabs at Amazon’s public Request for Proposals (RFP) process.
Doctoroff: “We really saw this as the perfect confluence of ambition, and experience, and location, and alignment. I gotta tell you something, that if Amazon sees what we do, it won’t even be a close call.”
Fleissig: “But unlike Amazon, they responded to our RFP.”
Doctoroff: “And we’re not asking for handouts either.”
It’s true, the City of Toronto put out a request for proposals to revitalize the waterfront neighborhood and Sidewalk Labs convinced the city government with a 196-page proposal. Amazon has a different goal for its project and a different approach. The Seattle-based tech titan accepted bids from 238 cities across North America, all eager to bring the massive corporate campus to their community.


read it all here:
https://www.geekwire.com/2017/alpha...me_post_analytics-analytics_suggested_article

Canadians are finally believing that they can be a global hub in something. The idea was roundly scoffed at before. Wanting to be #1 was starry eyed foolishness practiced by people with illusions of grandeur. We saw Europe, the USA, and Japan as places where things happened while we fulfilled the role of branch plant or secondary market.

There's still a persistent mindset that a subordinate Canada is the natural order of things but it's encouraging to see a more assertive ambitious Canada taking root.

It's almost like this country has toiled for 150 years to reach this point where the stars are aligning. We've built our premier city into a place bursting with promise in almost every field imaginable. We now have a PM that's captured the attention of global leaders in politics, business, and academia. He understands where we came from but also understands the future world unfolding.

Trudeau told the Alphabet chairmen a year ago that he wanted Canada to be the new Silicon Valley. Coming from anyone else it would have sounded like political hot air. He's put his money where his mouth is, convinced the world's greatest tech company that he's serious, and in the process they've become as enamoured with our potential as he is.

Kudos to him. I wasn't sure about Trudeau 3 years ago but he's thoroughly impressed me. Harper looks like a fossil next to this guy.

Thanks for sharing that clip TB.

Those guys can be clowns, and Tory sure did look sharp next to them.

What he did there, which is as important as promoting HQ2, was place Toronto in the minds of many businesses considering where to expand and plan their future growth. Well done in terms of positioning us with key advantages of skilled labour at lower cost, low taxes, healthcare, and more.

Concerning HQ2, I don't think we want that honestly.

That decision has already been made, and it is now about getting the right concessions.

Regardless, Amazon's footprint will continue to grow in Toronto (along with other companies) for the reasons Tory stated in that clip.