Retail giant Amazon issued a list of finalists for its $5 billion new headquarters, called HQ2, and Memphis isn’t on it.
The Memphis City Council offered Amazon $60 million in cash and $10 million in public investments to recruit the company here. The proposal was one from 238 cities across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
In the end, Amazon whittled the list down to 20 and Memphis didn’t make the cut.
Here’s what Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said of the news:
““We came together and gave it our best shot.
The good news is that this exercise showed us new ways to showcase our city that we are already using to attract other businesses.
“Memphis has momentum and other companies have seen and will continue to see our value.”
Here’s the news release from Amazon:
Amazon expects to create 50,000 high-paying jobs and invest over $5 billion in the city where it opens HQ2, a full equal to its Seattle HQ
SEATTLE—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Jan. 18, 2018— (NASDAQ: AMZN)—Amazon reviewed 238 proposals from across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico to host HQ2, the company’s second headquarters in North America. Today, Amazon announced it has chosen the following 20 metropolitan areas to move to the next phase of the process (in alphabetical order):
– Atlanta, GA
– Austin, TX
– Boston, MA
– Chicago, IL
– Columbus, OH
– Dallas, TX
– Denver, CO
– Indianapolis, IN
– Los Angeles, CA
– Miami, FL
– Montgomery County, MD
– Nashville, TN
– Newark, NJ
– New York City, NY
– Northern Virginia, VA
– Philadelphia, PA
– Pittsburgh, PA
– Raleigh, NC
– Toronto, ON
– Washington D.C.
“Thank you to all 238 communities that submitted proposals. Getting from 238 to 20 was very tough – all the proposals showed tremendous enthusiasm and creativity,” said Holly Sullivan, Amazon Public Policy. “Through this process we learned about many new communities across North America that we will consider as locations for future infrastructure investment and job creation.”
REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
Jeff Bezos
Amazon evaluated each of the proposals based on the criteria outlined in the RFP to create the list of 20 HQ2 candidates that will continue in the selection process. In the coming months, Amazon will work with each of the candidate locations to dive deeper into their proposals, request additional information, and evaluate the feasibility of a future partnership that can accommodate the company’s hiring plans as well as benefit its employees and the local community. Amazon expects to make a decision in 2018.
Amazon HQ2 will be a complete headquarters for Amazon, not a satellite office. The company plans to invest over $5 billion and grow this second headquarters to accommodate as many as 50,000 high-paying jobs. In addition to Amazon’s direct hiring and investment, construction and ongoing operation of Amazon HQ2 is expected to create tens of thousands of additional jobs and tens of billions of dollars in additional investment in the surrounding community.
With more than 540,000 employees worldwide, Amazon ranks #1 on Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, #2 in Fortune’s World Most Admired Companies, #1 on The Harris Poll’s Corporate Reputation survey, and #2 on LinkedIn’s U.S. most desirable companies list. Amazon was also recently included in the Military Times’ Best for Vets list of companies committed to providing opportunities for military veterans. Over the past five years, Amazon has invested more than $100 billion in the U.S., including corporate offices, development and research centers, fulfillment infrastructure, and compensation to its teams.
To learn more about Amazon’s current Seattle headquarters and the latest about HQ2 visit www.amazon.com/amazonHQ2.
