9AM UPDATE:
Austin will not be home to the new Amazon headquarters. The company has officially announced Long Island City, New York and Arlington, Virginia as the finalist cities. The new headquarters will have 50,000 employees and Amazon says they will be split between the two cities.
ORGINAL:
For the past year, there has been a lot of speculation regarding where Amazon may choose to build its second headquarters. After receiving an initial list of 238 proposals from various cities, that number was narrowed down to 20. Austin has remained in the running since the number was whittled down, but a new report from the Wall Street Journal indicates that the online retail giant has already made its decision, and Austin has failed to make the cut.
A person familiar with the plans say Amazon will split its second headquarters between Long Island City in New York and Crystal City in northern Virginia.
The online retailer is expected to make an official announcement later Tuesday Nov.13th. The person was not authorized to speak publicly ahead of that announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The decision will end an intense competition between North American cities to win Amazon and its promise of 50,000 new jobs. Some locations tried to stand out with stunts, but Amazon made clear that it really wanted incentives, like tax breaks and grants.
Amazon also had sought to be near a metropolitan area with more than a million people, among other criteria.
(Credit: Amazon)
