Who would’ve thought we’d see an Amazon headline bigger than Bezos’ photo scandal…
After months of debate among Amazon, lawmakers, and lobbyists over the $3B tax incentives offered to Amazon’s expansive Long Island City campus, Amazon has officially pulled the plug on the operation.
The New York Times reports that with many local politicians speaking out against the use of public subsidies to incentivize development and gentrification of Queens, Amazon felt that the political environment had become insurmountably hostile.
The news comes after a yearlong, Bachelor-worthy elimination round of red carpet proposals from over 238 cities. The deal promised to bring 25k jobs to the area, as well as a multibillion-dollar construction investment.
After all those tears… no rose
Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio (both of whom have been vocal defenders of the new HQ since negotiating the deal) respectively blamed pressure from Democrats and Amazon’s “my way or the highway” attitude for the plan’s demise.
Meanwhile, Amazon opponents point to the company’s unwillingness to negotiate with local legislators as proof of Amazon’s bullying tactics.
“You used to call me on my cell phone”
NYT reports that de Blasio has attempted to reach out to Bezos to patch things up, but to no avail.
Amazon now plans to spread its wealth across its current offices in places like Boston, Austin, Vancouver — as well as their current 5k-employee office in NYC.