SAN FRANCISCO:
Amazon said Monday it has received 238 pitches from places across North America vying to be home to its second headquarters.
It's the prize of a lifetime -- a $5 billion investment creating 50,000 well-paid jobs that everyone wants, but only one city will get.
"We received 238 proposals from across North America for #HQ2," the Seattle-based internet colossus said in a post from its official Twitter account.
"The team is excited to review each of them!"
From East to West and North to South, metropolises across the United States are locked in a frenzied bidding war, desperate to woo Amazon into favoring them as the site of the e-commerce giant's second headquarters.
Proposals were also reported to have come from Canada and Mexico.
From $7 billion in tax breaks in Newark, New Jersey -- 50 years ago aflame in deadly race riots -- to a giant cactus shipped inter-state from Tucson in Arizona, bids ranged from the extremely ambitious to the silly before the deadline for submissions recently passed.
The e-commerce giant announced last month that it planned to invest more than $5 billion in opening Amazon HQ2, a second company headquarters in North America that would also create tens of thousands of spin-off jobs.
"We expect HQ2 to be a full equal to our Seattle headquarters," promised Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, America's second richest billionaire worth $85.8 billion.
The unusual announcement unleashed competitive streaks nationwide as some of America's most glittering cities vie with lesser-known backwaters looking to exit oblivion.
Here’s how Apple, Google, Microsoft make money
Here’s how Apple, Google, Microsoft make money
Whenever we talk about the biggest technology companies in the world, some of the names that almost always come up are Apple, Alphabet (parent of Google), Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook. All of these tech giants have revenues running into billions of dollars, which they earn through different digital products and services. Ever wondered how much these companies’ biggest products contribute to their total revenue? Read on to find out. Note: The list is based on a recently shared report by Visual Capitalists website.
Apple
The major part of Apple’s revenues, according to the Visual Capitalists report, comes from the iPhone. While the iPhone contributes 63% to Apple’s revenues, the iPad and iMac bring 10% and 11% of revenue respectively. Other products such as accessories and more bring 5% revenue, while services such as iCloud, Apple Music, iTunes and more generate 11% of the total revenue.
Microsoft
The Redmond-based technology corporation has the most evenly distributed revenue table. Microsoft Office generates 28% of the company’s revenue, followed by Windows Server & Windows Azure, which bring in 22% revenue. The Xbox division, Windows OS, Bing & other advertising, as well as the Surface division generate 11%, 9%, 7% and 5% revenue respectively. The remaining 18% is classified as ‘Other’.
Alphabet
The parent company of Google, Alphabet gets majority of its revenue (88%) from advertising using Google AdWords and YouTube. Google Play services and Pixel products bring in 11% of the revenue share. Other subsidiaries like Nest, Verily, Google Fiber and more generate 1% of the total revenue, says Visual Capitalists report.
Facebook
Social media giant Facebook, as expected, generates its massive revenue from Facebook Ads. This division alone contributes up to 97% of the company’s total revenue. Remaining 3% is classified under ‘Others’ by the report.
Amazon
Amazon, the world’s largest e-commerce company, gets majority (72%) of its revenue from the online shopping business. Amazon Prime and other media services bring in 18% of the total revenue, followed by Amazon Web Services that contributes 9% of total share. 1% is generated by the ‘Others’ segment, according to Visual Capitalists report.
In addition to direct hiring and investment, Amazon expected construction and operation of HQ2 to create tens of thousands of additional jobs.
Amazon said in an online post that it is making the selection of its second headquarters a public process because "we want to find a city that is excited to work with us."
It has expressed a preference for places with more than one million people, a business-friendly environment and urban or suburban locations able to attract and retain strong technical talent.
A study commissioned by World Business Chicago claimed that in 17 years, HQ2 would generate $341 billion in total spending, including $71 billion in salaries.
