Amazon Chooses 20 Finalists for Second Headquarters

Amazon Chooses 20 Finalists for Second Headquarters
The response prompted a wave of publicity stunts by cities
that surprised even Amazon (We detailed some of the lengths that local leaders were going to in their quest for what one called “the Holy Grail.”)
A business group in Tucson trucked a giant cactus to Amazon in Seattle,
and the mayor of Washington buttered up Amazon in a promotional video in which she called it the “most interesting company in the world.” An economic development group in Calgary, Alberta, took out an advertisement in The Seattle Times in which it offered to fight a bear for Amazon and spray-painted Seattle sidewalks with a humorous promise to change the city’s name to Calmazon or Amagary.
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The company, based in Seattle, selected the finalists out of a pile of more than 238 applications submitted by local officials in Mexico, Canada
and the United States — all of them eager to attract the 50,000 high-paying jobs the company says it could bring.
To lure applicants, Amazon showered local politicians with its own data about the impact the company has had on the Seattle economy
and some of the immediate economic benefits related to its new home, including plans to spend $5 billion for construction of its second headquarters.
SEATTLE — Amazon said on Thursday that it had whittled the list of possible homes for its second headquarters
to 20, including centers of technology like Boston and some surprise locations like Columbus, Ohio.
Many of the finalists, including Dallas, Denver, Raleigh and Washington, were considered shoo-ins from the moment Amazon announced the search, largely because of the attributes
that the company said it was seeking for its second home.