Amazon to build second headquarters in North America

The e-commerce giant is taking bids on the location of its new headquarters, dubbed “HQ2,” which will house 50,000 employees, until Oct. 15, according to a statement from the company.    Seattle-based e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. plans to open a second headquarters in North America, according to a statement from the company.
   The headquarters, dubbed “HQ2,” would employ up to 50,000 workers and cost roughly $5 billion to build and operate.
   The company is seeking proposals by Oct. 19 for a location for the facility, and metropolitan areas housing 1 million people or more, within 45 minutes of an international airport, will be prioritized, Amazon said. There are roughly 80 metropolitan areas in the U.S. with populations of more than one million people, according to U.S. Census estimates, and several more elsewhere in North America, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
   Additionally, the company said incentives offered by state and local governments will be “significant factors” in the decision.
   “We expect HQ2 to be a full equal to our Seattle headquarters,” said Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos. “Amazon HQ2 will bring billions of dollars in upfront and ongoing investments, and tens of thousands of high-paying jobs. We’re excited to find a second home.”
   Amazon’s existing Seattle headquarters opened in 2010 and has brought an additional $38 billion in investments to the local economy, the company said.
   Currently employing 380,000 people, the e-commerce giant has plans to create 130,000 U.S. jobs through mid-2018 and expand its network of warehouses, according to the Wall Street Journal.
   Once the second headquarters is built, management will get to choose which location their teams will be based out of, said the Wall Street Journal.