The e-commerce giant, Amazon is having plans to build a massive second headquarters in North America, sparking immediate competition from rival cities to attract what could be billions of dollars in investment.
To win Amazon’s new venture Officials from Toronto, Texas, Maryland and Chicago were among those who said they are trying for it.
Amazon is seeking a base for as many as 50,000 workers. It is planning to spend $5bn (£3.8bn) on the project over 15-17 years.
As per the experts opportunities to compete for headquarters projects are nearly unheard of in the US at the scale Amazon envisions.
Amazon boss Jeff Bezos said the headquarters would be a “full equal” to its headquarters in Seattle.
He said, “Amazon HQ2 will bring billions of dollars in up-front and ongoing investments, and tens of thousands of high-paying jobs. We’re excited to find a second home.”
Amazon said it is looking for a site in a city area with more than one million people. It wants a location with access to mass transit that is close to major highways and an international airport.
Locations such as Austin, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Phoenix, and Toronto shot to the top of the list of potential places. Austin is home to Whole Foods, the grocery chain that Amazon recently acquired.
It is quite unusual for a firm to opt to conduct a headquarters search in the public eye. But on the other side, Amazon has a long history of seeking government support for expansions. The company won more than $240m in subsidies in the US between Jan 2015 and Dec 2016 for its warehouse network, according to a study by the non-profit Good Jobs First.
