the wording of AMZN’s statement includes hints. they said at least $100k, not at least $120k or $150k or $200k, meaning they would like to target something close to $100k. building an office of 50,000 working in NYC makes absolutely no sense for any business except those who have grown up with the city. also, they said north american HQ so they are seriously considering non-US locations. i’m not sure how US cities will compete with Canadian cities given US cities will have to provide billions in incentives just to make up for the corporate tax differences. we’ll see.
plus the ontario government is known for showering corporations to create jobs. the govt of ontario incentivized Open Text by paying them $100,000 per hire despite Open Text having several thousand employees already in Ontario and would likely expand that employee base with or without incentives. if this holds, i’d expect AMZN to pay no corporate taxes and receive at least US$5 billion from the govt of ontario. they paid that much per worker to get an incumbent company create more jobs that were probably already going to be created. and that’s just provincial incentives. who knows what the feds and municipality of toronto will throw at AMZN. US cities won’t be able to compete with our socialist version of capitalism. plus there’s a provincial election in June 2018 and the incumbent party probably won’t win a majority government without this type of news. yay!
edit: i don’t think a lot of americans understand how we do business up here now. the government basically just buys jobs from corporations. it’s terrible and boosts government debt but its boosts short-term employment and makes politicians look good.
american companies have been coming to canada for its corporate tax rate without additional incentives. if toronto/ontario offers the best incentives as well, i don’t know how AMZN can say no. $1000 : $200 sounds good.
jeff bezos should release a clue every week for 10 weeks with a new riddle about the city location that eventually compounds on other bits of info. it would be a cheap marketing ploy but f*** it… I’d follow it and place wagers on munis
Counterparty risk. I can’t make the bet unless I am confident of payment should I win. I’m betting with a guy that has 26 AF posts. If he is bs, he is a guy with several thousand posts and fairly reliable. Goldman wouldn’t take a million to one bet with the 1000th largest bank in Gujarat state, which is what this bet could very well be.
How about this, I’ll hold payment from both sides in escrow and release the funds to the winner once the outcome is determined. Please wire your funds to:
What me to hold the money in escrow? I’ll invest it wisely in a 0 beta market neutral fund.
MLA…you made a bet. If FactCheck doesn’t pay, you gloat over him forever (or, if you wish, I’ll ban him). Bottom line, you accepted the bet and now you’re trying to get out of it. Not sure how things work up north, but that’s not cool. Hurts your brand. Just roll with it. You’re only on the hook for $200. Just don’t go to Tim Horton’s for a month.
i can gloat without any money involved. i think i’ll pass in making a bet with no chance of payment. that is not a bet, that is locking in a negative npv. also, i’m thinking fact check may actually be stl. this whole dialogue makes a lot of sense if that is the case.
