Amid intensifying speculation that Crystal City, Virginia was Amazon’s top choice to host its second headquarters, the Wall Street Journal revealed a surprise twist in the selection process when it reported on Monday that the e-commerce giant has decided to split the location of its second headquarters between two cities. In effect, this means Amazon will soon have three discrete headquarters – the two new ones, plus the company’s headquarters in Seattle.
The economic benefits promised by Amazon will be divided evenly between the two cities, as the headquarters are expected to create 25,000 jobs apiece.
On Sunday, WSJ reported that Crystal City, Dallas, Texas and New York City were all in “advanced negotiations” with Amazon.
Per WSJ’s Laura Stevens, Amazon decided to split its HQ2 due to logistical concerns, like ensuring there would be enough housing and transit access to host what would be a massive influx of new high-paid tech workers, as well as lessening the burden of recruiting tech talent.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said last week that he would ultimately decide on the host city based on his gut instincts. And while Bezos had also teased that a decision would be made by the end of the year, WSJ reported that the final choice could be revealed by the end of the week.
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