Amazon on Thursday said it plans to open a second company headquarters in North America, and it is soliciting pitches from cities and states for what it calls HQ2.
The online retailer expects to invest more than $5 billion in construction and grow this second headquarters to include as many as 50,000 high-paying jobs.
Amazon said it would prioritize bids from metropolitan areas with more than one million people; regions that provide a "stable and business-friendly environment"; urban or suburban locations with the potential to attract and retain strong technical talent; and communities that "think big and creatively when considering locations and real estate options."
Amazon said the location does not have to be an urban or downtown campus; a similar layout to Amazon's Seattle campus; or a development-prepped site.
"We expect HQ2 to be a full equal to our Seattle headquarters," Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO, said in a statement. "Amazon HQ2 will bring billions of dollars in up-front and ongoing investments, and tens of thousands of high-paying jobs. We're excited to find a second home."
Amazon estimates its investments in its Seattle headquarters operations from 2010 through 2016 resulted in an additional $38 billion to the city's economy.
Thursday's announcement is likely to set off a scramble among cities vying to make the short list. Cities and states are being advised to visit www.amazon.com/amazonHQ2 for more information.
One Wall Street firm predicts Amazon will be worth significantly more than $1 trillion in the coming decade.
MKM Partners reiterated its buy rating for the internet giant, saying Amazon will continue to dominate the e-commerce and cloud computing markets.
We think Amazon "should continue deploying all available capital until reinvestment opportunities become more limited or more risky," analyst Rob Sanderson wrote in a note to clients Thursday. "Our detailed scenario analysis implies that AMZN could exceed a $1.6 trillion valuation over the next 7-8 years."
Amazon has a market value of $465 billion through Wednesday, according to FactSet. Its shares have rallied 29 percent this year, compared with the S&P 500's 10 percent return.
Sanderson reiterated his $1,275 price target for Amazon, representing 32 percent upside from Wednesday's close.
He said Amazon's market share of U.S. retail spending rose nine times from 2008 to 2016, to 5.1 percent. He predicts the e-commerce company will reach 15.5 percent retail spending share by 2025 and "surpass Wal-Mart over time."
Sanderson is also bullish on the growth prospects for Amazon Web Services. He forecasts the company's cloud computing business can grow its sales 20 percent annually for the next eight years.
"We agree that cloud is the largest redefinition of computing since the PC-era and will significantly redistribute value across the tech food chain," he wrote. "AWS is growing much faster than Microsoft did on its path to PC-era dominance."
Amazon has a market value of $465 billion through Wednesday, according to FactSet. Its shares have rallied 29 percent this year, compared with the S&P 500's 10 percent return.
Sanderson reiterated his $1,275 price target for Amazon, representing 32 percent upside from Wednesday's close.
He said Amazon's market share of U.S. retail spending rose nine times from 2008 to 2016, to 5.1 percent. He predicts the e-commerce company will reach 15.5 percent retail spending share by 2025 and "surpass Wal-Mart over time."
Sanderson is also bullish on the growth prospects for Amazon Web Services. He forecasts the company's cloud computing business can grow its sales 20 percent annually for the next eight years.
"We agree that cloud is the largest redefinition of computing since the PC-era and will significantly redistribute value across the tech food chain," he wrote. "AWS is growing much faster than Microsoft did on its path to PC-era dominance."
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