Amazon to announce location of its second headquarters soon

It’s been over a year since Amazon announced plans to build a second headquarters in a major North America city.

With the online retail giant’s selection time frame in mind, the company should be announcing the official location of its next headquarters soon. 

There have been plenty of proposals, and the company narrowed its search down to 20 cities earlier in 2018. Of those 20 cities, the only remaining Canadian option is Toronto. 

There are numerous bets placed on the Washinton, D.C. area because it’s close to the company’s CEO Jeff Bezos’ home, according to Recode.

Recode has put together a list ranking the tech talent in each city. Toronto ranks number two in the ‘Tech Talent Rank,’ and number one in terms of affordable average wages for tech sector employees. The ranking comes from data gathered by CBRE, which is a commercial real estate service and investment firm.

There are many reasons for each city to become the home of Amazon’s HQ, such as proximity to a major airport as well s the cost of rent in the location. Certain cities are also offering Amazon various incentives like tax breaks and more.

There are even a few reasons for a city to not want to be the location of Amazon’s next HQ. The metropolis will need to be able to support an influx of around 40,000 employees and their families. Further, that many people in high-paying jobs will also likely raise the cost of living in the city.

Some Canadian critics even worry that having a U.S.-based company in Toronto might result in a brain drain of skilled workers away from growing Canadian tech companies. 

Source: Recode