SunriseChampion
Senior Member
Bah....I spit at their valuation which has been and continues to be based on hypothetical future profits.
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- Thread starter muller877
- Start date
Irishmonk
Senior Member
It's heartwarming to see that additional "0" in Jeff Bezos personal fortune, especially when it's coming at the expense of local elementary schools. I imagine Bezos will have first dibs on the schoolchildrens' fresh blood if he ever needs a transfusion.
SunriseChampion
Senior Member
Only the schoolchildren being offspring of HQ2's employees, mind.
MetroMan
Senior Member
Donald Trump just made it more likely that Amazon will seek the assurance of a second HQ outside the US:
Amazon shares hit after Donald Trump says US Postal Service should charge more for deliveries
Amazon shares hit after Donald Trump says US Postal Service should charge more for deliveries
tripwire
Active Member
From what I understand, Amazon makes more money from their services (AWS) now than their original marketplace. I'm glad that Toronto does not plan to give ridiculous benefits just to land Amazon. It'll be fantastic to have them, but Toronto's tech market is quite strong as it is.
DSC
Superstar
Yes, like Wisconsin and Foxconn:
(From Real Clear Markets)
This summer, Wisconsin politicians announced they had lured a new Foxconn LCD flat panel plant to southeast Wisconsin with a $3 billion incentive package, in return for a $10 billion investment from the company. But, like many government giveaways to the corporate sector, the bill to taxpayers has gotten even bigger. The Wisconsin Economic Development Agency agreed to a significant reduction in Foxconn’s commitment, down to $9 billion. This was after the state legislature okayed the deal without nailing down the details.
The state legislative bureau estimated it would take 25 years – until 2043 – until the Wisconsin government received enough in additional tax revenues to match the initial $3 billion investment. At $4 billion-plus, the break-even point will recede even further into the future…
…The steep price Wisconsin has committed to paying to host Foxconn will ripple across other states and municipalities. In 2015 alone, state and local business incentives came to $45 billion, including tax credits, property tax abatements, investment tax credits, R&D tax credits and customized job training, according to the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. And the cost has been going up; business incentives have more than tripled since 1990.
The state will also spend $30 million on a new two-mile road east of I-94 to be called “Wisconn Valley Way,” and aimed at easing traffic congestion near Foxconn’s plant.
And last week we learned the Walker administration will also siphon $134 million from the state transportation fund to widen and improve several local roads near the future Foxconn factory, as a report by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau disclosed.
This from CNN:
The demands for labor from the Foxconn plant will hamper the abilities of companies that are already in Wisconsin, who are already struggling to get workers due to the state's low wages and low amount of candidates available to take those jobs.
But the low unemployment in the state has some existing businesses worried that the plant, which could employ up to 13,000 workers, will make it that much harder for them to find workers. Unemployment in Wisconsin is just 3.2%, near its record low. The entire state has only 102,000 unemployed workers.
"What I'm hearing from my employers is they can't fill the jobs they have available now," said Anthony Snyder, CEO of the Fox Valley Workforce Development Board. "I've heard companies not able to add another shift, not being able to take on orders because they can't fill them. Foxconn doesn't worry me today, but it'll worry me two or three years from now. It's another competitor for the labor we don't have here."
(From Real Clear Markets)
This summer, Wisconsin politicians announced they had lured a new Foxconn LCD flat panel plant to southeast Wisconsin with a $3 billion incentive package, in return for a $10 billion investment from the company. But, like many government giveaways to the corporate sector, the bill to taxpayers has gotten even bigger. The Wisconsin Economic Development Agency agreed to a significant reduction in Foxconn’s commitment, down to $9 billion. This was after the state legislature okayed the deal without nailing down the details.
The state legislative bureau estimated it would take 25 years – until 2043 – until the Wisconsin government received enough in additional tax revenues to match the initial $3 billion investment. At $4 billion-plus, the break-even point will recede even further into the future…
…The steep price Wisconsin has committed to paying to host Foxconn will ripple across other states and municipalities. In 2015 alone, state and local business incentives came to $45 billion, including tax credits, property tax abatements, investment tax credits, R&D tax credits and customized job training, according to the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. And the cost has been going up; business incentives have more than tripled since 1990.
The state will also spend $30 million on a new two-mile road east of I-94 to be called “Wisconn Valley Way,” and aimed at easing traffic congestion near Foxconn’s plant.
And last week we learned the Walker administration will also siphon $134 million from the state transportation fund to widen and improve several local roads near the future Foxconn factory, as a report by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau disclosed.
This from CNN:
The demands for labor from the Foxconn plant will hamper the abilities of companies that are already in Wisconsin, who are already struggling to get workers due to the state's low wages and low amount of candidates available to take those jobs.
But the low unemployment in the state has some existing businesses worried that the plant, which could employ up to 13,000 workers, will make it that much harder for them to find workers. Unemployment in Wisconsin is just 3.2%, near its record low. The entire state has only 102,000 unemployed workers.
"What I'm hearing from my employers is they can't fill the jobs they have available now," said Anthony Snyder, CEO of the Fox Valley Workforce Development Board. "I've heard companies not able to add another shift, not being able to take on orders because they can't fill them. Foxconn doesn't worry me today, but it'll worry me two or three years from now. It's another competitor for the labor we don't have here."
SunriseChampion
Senior Member
What are you implying? That the US isn't a market economy like they say about China? 
I don't even like Amazon, bloody well hope I'm not forcefully volunteering my money to their over-valued behemoth of an extortion racket. I've had my fill of that supporting dairy farmers and plane companies.....and auto manufacturers.....and energy companies...and so on and so on to lengths too terrible to mention.
I don't even like Amazon, bloody well hope I'm not forcefully volunteering my money to their over-valued behemoth of an extortion racket. I've had my fill of that supporting dairy farmers and plane companies.....and auto manufacturers.....and energy companies...and so on and so on to lengths too terrible to mention.
ChesterCopperpot
Senior Member
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
No surprise there. In fact Toronto is the only Canadian candidate making it through.
AoD
AoD
christiesplits
Senior Member
Your City Will Lose the Contest for Amazon’s New HQ
http://www.slate.com/articles/busin...ill_lose_the_contest_for_amazon_s_new_hq.html
I think people are placing too much weight for the "dense, transit-friendly, urbane" criteria in Amazon's wish list. It hasn't stopped tech behemoths from settling in deserts, exurbs and corn fields in California, Texas and North Carolina. At the end of the day, Amazon is concerned with the bottom line. Telecommuting and private employee shuttles to-and-from work are easy fixes to reach the nether regions of hip urban centres.
http://www.slate.com/articles/busin...ill_lose_the_contest_for_amazon_s_new_hq.html
I think people are placing too much weight for the "dense, transit-friendly, urbane" criteria in Amazon's wish list. It hasn't stopped tech behemoths from settling in deserts, exurbs and corn fields in California, Texas and North Carolina. At the end of the day, Amazon is concerned with the bottom line. Telecommuting and private employee shuttles to-and-from work are easy fixes to reach the nether regions of hip urban centres.
stanko
Active Member
Some people I talked to were sure as shit that Calgary was going to at least make the shortlist. Too bad
torontologist
Active Member
Valid point that tech giants *in the past* tended to locate themselves in remote locations. I don't think that's what they're looking for right now. Amazon's corporate culture is constructed around being in Seattle. They're not Google or Apple.
Baltimore isn't on the shortlist. Taxes in Illinois are too high. Denver isn't far east enough to get the benefits of a second HQ. Atlanta isn't a good cultural fit.
Based on the shortlist, I think we're possibly in the top 5. Philly, Boston, and Pittsburgh are probably the top 3.
treplow
New Member
So much for that CBC Metro Morning tech reporter who was 100% convinced Toronto wouldn't even make the final cut.
thethrows
New Member
I still don't believe that Toronto is going to land it, but this news is really going to dial-up the hate-on from ROC!
TrickyRicky
Senior Member
LA notwithstanding if you look at that map it seems Amazon is looking primarily outside the Western US.
As an anecdotal aside a distant relative of mine who works in Seattle in the Technology field mentioned during the holidays that Amazon has a bad reputation as an employer in his field.
The larger a company gets the more political its business model becomes so I wouldn't doubt proximity to Washington DC is a contributing factor. Sometimes we forget when we separate organizations into private and public that all private companies business models exist within pockets of space whose boundaries are created by government. When you grow to a certain size influencing government to shape those boundaries according to your interests becomes essentially your primary objective.
As an anecdotal aside a distant relative of mine who works in Seattle in the Technology field mentioned during the holidays that Amazon has a bad reputation as an employer in his field.
The larger a company gets the more political its business model becomes so I wouldn't doubt proximity to Washington DC is a contributing factor. Sometimes we forget when we separate organizations into private and public that all private companies business models exist within pockets of space whose boundaries are created by government. When you grow to a certain size influencing government to shape those boundaries according to your interests becomes essentially your primary objective.