In the ever-changing tech world, one story seems to be constantly buzzing: where will Amazon’s new second headquarters be?
Most news stories on the topic seem to consist of speculation and little else. However, this speculation might affect where Amazon decides to put the new headquarters.
The news about Amazon’s second headquarters came early last month. Amazon wants a second headquarters in a suburban or urban location with more than a million people; the “HQ2” could employ as many as 50,000 people.
We received 238 proposals from across North America for @amazon #HQ2. https://t.co/GhRDMJ6b29 pic.twitter.com/dPOwzzjyw2
— Werner Vogels (@Werner) October 24, 2017
While Amazon’s announcement dominated the news cycle at first, soon after came a flood of stories guessing where the new headquarters could be. The criteria for the guesses varied, some including which cities offered the best tax breaks, while others created lists of the most likely cities based on innovativeness.
The numerous, very credible news sources that have partaken in this speculation include CNN, Forbes, The New York Times and Business Insider.
CNN’s opening story about Amazon’s HQ2 did not just give the details of the announcement, but listed only few cities as contenders like Chicago, Boston and Columbus, OH.
Soon after, CNN published another story titled “8 cities fit for Amazon’s second headquarters” to further drive home where the publication assumed HQ2 would go.
Forbes, in a very similar manner to the previous CNN piece, also published an article entitled “Amazon is Most Likely To Build Its Second Headquarters In One Of These Five Cities.”
The New York Times started out with an update in their article from October 26 on the new headquarters, stating that 238 cities put in a bid for Amazon’s second headquarters.
However, even the Times article, which started off as objective, cited multiple studies which claimed to know where the headquarters would be – including the New York Times’ very own New York Times Upshot, which claimed to know the location “according to the data.”
Why should #AmazonHQ2 come to Tampa Bay? Watch our Instagram Story for a sneak preview of our pitch #AlexaNeedsATan https://t.co/3cDUjvzzma pic.twitter.com/0BdpjvQAvt
— City of Tampa (@CityofTampa) October 27, 2017
Other outlets, like Business Insider, took a different approach. In a piece titled “Amazon got a bid to build its $5 billion headquarters on the US-Mexico border — here’s what it would look like,” the article wrote in detail about the implementation and ramifications of this plan.
The New York Times and Business Insider had two important things in common: First, they were willing to guess where the second Amazon headquarters will be. Second, they could influence the decision by pointing out important facts for Amazon to consider in its own decision.
Multiple media outlets have published numerous stories about where the new Amazon headquarters could be, based on a list of criteria that could be completely different than Amazon’s own evaluation method. However, the high quantity of articles speculating where it is could have an affect on Amazon’s decision and change one city dramatically.