Amazon.com said it couldn't accept gifts in its HQ2 bidding process, donating a 21-foot cactus Arizona representatives had offered. Gifts in the form of tax incentives, however, remain on the table.
Sorry, bidders for Amazon.com’s second headquarters. Jeff Bezos will not be accepting your gifts.
The online retailer says it could not accept the 21-foot saguaro cactus that a southern Arizona economic development group had intended to ship to Amazon’s chief executive to announce its intention to bid for the company’s second headquarters campus.
“Unfortunately we can’t accept gifts (even really cool ones),” the company said in a post on Twitter, adding that it had donated the spiny plant to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson. (Amazon continues to seek other gifts, namely tax breaks and other development incentives to offset a portion of the costs of the new headquarters.)
Greater Tucson is among at least 118 (and counting) cities, states and Canadian provinces that have said they are considering making Amazon an offer to host its new headquarters.
Amazon’s HQ & HQ2
- Amazon names 20 finalists in search for HQ2
- A not-so-short HQ2 shortlist, and other take-aways from Amazon’s finalists
- 2 kinds of cities made list of finalists for Amazon HQ2
- See how the 20 Amazon HQ2 finalists compare, and vote on your choice
- Amazon receives 238 bids for its second headquarters
- Cities are free to discuss Amazon HQ2 bids, but many won’t
- Amazon’s surprise plan for HQ2 is a bold experiment
- Thanks to Amazon, Seattle is now America’s biggest company town
- Read more about Amazon and its HQ2 plans.
The company says its second corporate campus, a “full equal” to its still-expanding Seattle headquarters, would house up to 50,000 employees, after a buildout of more than a decade and investment of upwards of $5 billion.