Amazon planning second headquarters with 50,000 jobs

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

Then one thing going for every Canadian city is the pending federal legalization of recreational marijuana.

Amazon is already headquartered in Seattle. They know what's up.

I guess Denver is a lock now.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Weitz

You think legal marijuana is going to have any affect on something like this?

Well they already have it at their current hq. They're considering Denver as well.

I'm not saying it's a hinge point, but it's only a benefit to us.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

I find it somewhat ironic that amazon is seemingly worried out the quality of life the ee's at HQ2 would have; but, based on everything that is out there, it seems employees work 14 hrs per day 7 days per week.....

I don't think there's a company in Canada or the USA that doesn't pay lip service to work-life balance.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Fozzie_DeBear

I would think that Trump’s immigration policies would be perceived as a source of risk for Amazon and a reason to setup operations in a country that isn’t irrational when it comes to international talent attraction.

If a Canadian city wins this, the ability to hire IIT grads and more easily sponsor them for way less money than it costs to hire Stanford grads will be a big factor.

[Fuzz]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/amaz...nada-1.4363929
All the Canadian cities that bid. More than I thought!

[spuzzum]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/amaz...nada-1.4363929
All the Canadian cities that bid. More than I thought!

The bid from Toronto is outstanding. A 100 page proposal with references from corporate, provincial and city officials. 8 potential building sites and a transit, airport, university, and economic analysis. I'd be interested to see the details from the Calgary bid.

I wonder what is the perspective thoughts from upper mgmt are on desired distance from HQ1 - if they even care or want a max 1-2 hour flight. YYC lacks the amount of non-stop flights into the US. Calgary also has a pretty crappy transit system. We unfortunately might be a little bush league but what a coup if they were able to land HQ2.

I'm wagering Denver, Atlanta or Toronto as front runners.

[TheAlpineOracle]

I don’t know anything about the Calgary bid, but I would think a very good selling feature for the Silicon Valley Amazon type crowd would have been breaking away from the oil and gas industry. Think of the social points Amazon could score for being able to lead the charge about moving on from big oil. I hope they played that up a bit.

[GP_Matt]

I hope Amazon does a going,going, gone style announcement where the reveal the whole list in a few weeks and cross them off as they are eliminated. It would be really interesting to see where everyone stacks up.

[calgarygeologist]

I'm not sure how autonomous the new HQ would be but if they anticipate a lot of collaboration between the offices an East Coast/West Coast set up could be difficult. With a two or three hour time difference collaboration and scheduling meetings becomes considerably more difficult and it means that employees at either office will periodically have to come in early, stay late or work through lunch. This might not be a big deal for some folks but I know that I hated working in those types of situations.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

With a two or three hour time difference collaboration and scheduling meetings becomes considerably more difficult and it means that employees at either office will periodically have to come in early, stay late or work through lunch.

It sounds like this is standard operating procedure at Amazon regardless of time differences.

[DiracSpike]

lol, Sault Ste Marie applied. Good luck with that you guys

[spuzzum]

Originally Posted by DiracSpike

lol, Sault Ste Marie applied. Good luck with that you guys

And Montreal. I can't imagine Amazon would consider going to Quebec with French / English & language laws being such a pain in the butt even if they gave them a cash printing press

[pgsieve]

Two very unhelpful comments, but have been on my mind for quite some time:

1. I see this whole campaign as another opportunity for Nenshi to get an ego boost by sticking his nose at someone else. First the Flames, then the IOC, now Amazon.

2. Is anyone else surprised that the campaign focused around the comment "We will punch a bear for you". Even as someone who has hunted bears before, I find this a bit unnecessary.

[surferguy]

Originally Posted by pgsieve

Two very unhelpful comments, but have been on my mind for quite some time:

1. I see this whole campaign as another opportunity for Nenshi to get an ego boost by sticking his nose at someone else. First the Flames, then the IOC, now Amazon.

2. Is anyone else surprised that the campaign focused around the comment "We will punch a bear for you". Even as someone who has hunted bears before, I find this a bit unnecessary.

I totally agree these are two unhelpful comments.

Also why are you hunting bears?

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by pgsieve

1. I see this whole campaign as another opportunity for Nenshi to get an ego boost by sticking his nose at someone else. First the Flames, then the IOC, now Amazon.

What do you mean by this comment? Nenshi is a great proponent and booster of Calgary, and (IMO) he'll do an outstanding job selling Bezos & co. on the merits of this city if our RFP response is shortlisted.

[OldDutch]

Originally Posted by jayswin

It sounds like this is standard operating procedure at Amazon regardless of time differences.

Question for the corporate folks on the west coast. With time change does that mean most prople are in at 6? That is 9 out east.

Always curious what hours are like out there.

[calgaryblood]

Originally Posted by pgsieve

Two very unhelpful comments, but have been on my mind for quite some time:

1. I see this whole campaign as another opportunity for Nenshi to get an ego boost by sticking his nose at someone else. First the Flames, then the IOC, now Amazon.

2. Is anyone else surprised that the campaign focused around the comment "We will punch a bear for you". Even as someone who has hunted bears before, I find this a bit unnecessary.

Hmmmm i wonder if the bears would be offended, let's ask the ones you've shot and killed.

[nik-]

kills bears, perturbed by a bear joke

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by spuzzum

The bid from Toronto is outstanding. A 100 page proposal with references from corporate, provincial and city officials. 8 potential building sites and a transit, airport, university, and economic analysis. I'd be interested to see the details from the Calgary bid.

I wonder what is the perspective thoughts from upper mgmt are on desired distance from HQ1 - if they even care or want a max 1-2 hour flight. YYC lacks the amount of non-stop flights into the US. Calgary also has a pretty crappy transit system. We unfortunately might be a little bush league but what a coup if they were able to land HQ2.

I'm wagering Denver, Atlanta or Toronto as front runners.

The main issue with the Toronto bid is it seemed a bit of an excercise in pleasing every municipality in the region. Most of the proposed sites are junk and it waters down its effectiveness compared to focusing on the 3-4 best sites. Their vision for downtown is also not too clear - what 500k-million sq ft space are they supposed to land in in 2019? Office space is so tight there, Amazon would have to be spread across a lot of buildings. They also are less than truthful about rent levels. Affordability and congestion will be big issues - it’s pretty tapped out in terms of capacity - much like Seattle now. Toronto has other strengths like proximity to talent, but Google is making a big play there, so that’s regional completion for people Amazon may not want.

I had some involvement in Calgary’s bid. It’s excellent. The stuff that was public facing is just pure PR, they chose to keep the details of the actual bid secret. Employees apparently will have some say, so getting the Calgary name at least into people’s brains is necessary.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Fozzie_DeBear

I would think that Trump’s immigration policies would be perceived as a source of risk for Amazon and a reason to setup operations in a country that isn’t irrational when it comes to international talent attraction.

Amazon will be around long after Trump IMO.