Amazon cancels New York City headquarters

Former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein is defending Amazon and criticizing the progressives who opposed the tech company’s decision to build a headquarters in NYC.

Blankfein has been more active on Twitter since leaving the investment bank at the end of last year. He recently fought with Senator Bernie Sanders on the merits of stock buybacks.

Before: Citigroup had said it would move 1,100 New York employees out of its iconic building in Long Island City ahead of schedule in order to make room for Amazon.

Now: The bank says it still plans to relocate most of its employees even though Amazon has scrapped plans to build out a headquarters in Queens.

From a spokesperson:

Citi’s lease at One Court Square is up in 2020, and it has been trying to pare down its real estate in New York.

The bank in 2015 began to move its HQ from midtown Manhattan to two huge buildings in the Tribeca neighborhood of lower Manhattan. That spot will eventually house 12,000 Citi employees.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo once joked that he would change his name to “Amazon Cuomo” to win its HQ2 and the 25,000 jobs the company would bring along with it.

On Thursday, Cuomo, who steered New York’s winning bid for Amazon, blamed New York State Senate leaders for pushing Amazon (AMZN) away.

Cuomo said “a small group politicians put their own narrow political interests above their community.”

Cuomo took a different tack that New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who blasted Amazon earlier on Thursday for reneging on its commitment.

“We gave Amazon the opportunity to be a good neighbor and do business in the greatest city in the world. Instead of working with the community, Amazon threw away that opportunity,” de Blasio said.

New York City public officials have criticized Amazon (AMZN) for refusing to negotiate with local opponents over HQ2.

New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson chimed in on Thursday, saying he is eager to work with companies that are “willing to engage with New Yorkers and work through challenging issues.”

Johnson said he hoped Amazon’s reversal would start a “conversation about vulture capitalism and where our tax dollars are best spent,” a reference to the subsidies Amazon would have received for coming to New York.

“I know I’d choose mass transit over helipads every day,” he said.

The chair of the Arlington County Board says it’s business as usual in Northern Virginia, which was supposed to split Amazon’s HQ2 with Long Island City in Queens.

That means Crystal City can still expect 25,000 Amazon workers over time, as planned.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a public face of the opposition to Amazon’s planned move to New York City, celebrated the company’s reversal on Twitter.

“Today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazon’s corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world,” she said.

Amazon said there are no plans to “reopen the HQ2 search at this time” after dropping New York.

But that isn’t stopping New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy from pushing Amazon to give Newark — one of the 20 finalists for the company’s second headquarters — another look.

“New Jersey is open for business, and now more than ever, Newark is the clear choice as the next presence for Amazon corporate offices,” Murphy said in a statement through his press secretary.

“Amazon now has the opportunity to join in Newark’s story of a city on the rise.”

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio took a swipe at Amazon in his first comments since the company scrapped plans to build its second headquarters in the city.

“You have to be tough to make it in New York City,” de Blasio said in a statement.

“We gave Amazon the opportunity to be a good neighbor and do business in the greatest city in the world. Instead of working with the community, Amazon threw away that opportunity,” he added.

You can find the full statement here

City Council member Brad Lander, a Brooklyn progressive who opposed subsidies for Amazon’s HQ2, told me that Amazon (AMZN) showed no interest in engaging on local issues.

He also explained why Google’s NYC expansion has faced less backlash.

“It’s not that we like Google better than Amazon,” he said. “Google has grown here by the rules that we’ve democratically set, and Amazon doesn’t want the rules we’ve democratically set. They want a monopolistic version.”

And he had a reminder for cities in similar positions:

Grassroots progressive groups rallied opposition to Amazon’s second headquarters in New York. On Thursday, critics claimed victory.

“I don’t know if we were expecting it, but having them not force their empire building on Queens neighborhoods is exactly what we want,” said Deborah Axt, co-executive director of the non-profit community group Make the Road New York.

Amazon previously rejected 17 finalists in North America for its second headquarters in November.

The runners-up included Austin, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Ohio, Dallas, Denver, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Miami, Montgomery County, Maryland, Newark, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, Toronto, and Washington, D.C.

But Amazon made it clear that none of them are back in the running.

There are no plans to “reopen the HQ2 search at this time,” according to the company’s statement.

That’s ok – all of those cities have said they got a big boost from Amazon (AMZN) during the year-long chase to land H2Q. The process allowed them to promote their cities and opened up new development opportunities.

There will be only one Amazon HQ2 – Northern Virginia was supposed to split the HQ duties with New York. But now that Jeff Bezos & Co. have pulled the plug on their Long Island City plans, will the company still add the 25,000 jobs it promised for Queens somewhere else?

Will Northern Virginia become an even bigger HQ2 and wind up with more than 25,000 jobs? What about Nashville? The country music capital wasn’t chosen to be a HQ2 spot but it won a lucrative consolation prize: an “operations center of excellence” that will employ 5,000 people. Will that site now get bigger?

Amazon (AMZN) didn’t give any details in its statement about the end of the LIC HQ2. But the company clearly suggested that there will be more jobs at other locations.

The big question is how many? And if that answer is less than 25,000, it begs the question of why Amazon ever felt a need to build two HQ2s in the first place.

Attention has been laser-focused on Amazon. In the meantime, Google (GOOGL) has moved ahead with plans for a massive NYC expansion. Where’s the blowback on that front?

The company is investing more than $1 billion to double its workforce in NYC. It’s scooped up 1.7 million square feet near the Hudson River in lower Manhattan. Google has said it could add more than 7,000 employees there over next decade.

That move has attracted far less attention than Amazon’s HQ2 in Queens, which became the target of progressive backlash and faced opposition from some local officials.

Rep. Pete King, a Republican from New York, said it is “disgraceful” that Amazon was “driven from New York by left wing progressive politicians.”

Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the liberal firebrand whose district includes Long Island City, was among HQ2’s opponents. State Senator Michael Gianaris and Queens City Council Member Jimmy van Bramer also voiced their opposition to the tax breaks.

Some New Yorkers — including Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio — cheered Amazon’s decision to head to the Big Apple.

But critics almost immediately objected to the massive subsidies that New York offered to lure the tech behemoth.

New York State, for instance, said it would grant $1.525 billion in incentives contingent on the company creating 25,000 new jobs with an average salary of $150,000.

And Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the liberal firebrand whose district includes Long Island City, is among HQ2’s opponents. State Senator Michael Gianaris and Queens City Council Member Jimmy van Bramer also voiced their opposition to the tax breaks.

Amazon, for its part, tried to win over its “future neighbors” with a print advertisement that ran in local newspapers in early January.

“Happy New Year from your future neighbors at Amazon,” the ad read.

The company said it hopes to have a “long and mutually beneficial partnership between New Yorkers and Amazon.” It pledged that the 25,000 jobs that will be added over 10 years at its so-called HQ2 in the Long Island City neighborhood will include new hires from “across the five boroughs” and with “all different levels of education.”

It also said the company would offer career training for local residents and bring in over $27 billion in state and local tax revenue that can help “improve subways and buses.”

“As we move forward, we pledge to be your partner, to listen, learn, and work together,” the ad said.

Last year, Amazon selected New York City and Northern Virginia to split duty as its second headquarters. Now, after canceling plans for the site in New York, it’s just down to Virginia.

Amazon said that it will not restart the search for a city to build a second headquarters. Instead, it will move forward in Virginia. It will also focus on already existing plans to build a new hub in Nashville.

Here’s what the company said in a statement:

According to the Amazon statement, the company still employs more than 5,000 people in the New York City area and will “continue growing these teams.”

Amazon has decided it will not build its second headquarters in New York City, according to a statement attributed to Jodi Seth, an Amazon spokeswoman.

“After much thought and deliberation, we’ve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens,” the statement reads, before laying the blame squarely at the feet of local politicians.