Bezos: HQ2 Decision Coming By End of Year

Amazon will select a location for its second headquarters by the end of the year, CEO Jeff Bezos said Thursday night.

At a sold-out Economic Club of Washington event, Bezos did not give any hints of whether Arlington has a leg up on other locations. He sidestepped a question from interviewer David Rubenstein about whether HQ2 would be coming to the D.C. area, but did confirm that the HQ2 decision would come by the end of the year.

Full quote from Jeff Bezos on the Amazon HQ2 search: "The answer is very simple: we will announce a decision before the end of this year. So we've made tremendous progress, the team's working their butts off on it and we will get there"

— Chris Teale (@chris_teale) September 14, 2018

The process has been subject to months of breathless speculation about the company’s plans, with two different sites in Arlington advancing as finalists in the unusual bidding war for HQ2. Amazon expects the new headquarters will bring as many as 50,000 new jobs to wherever it lands.

While communities across the country earned looks from Amazon, the D.C. region has long been viewed as a favorite to earn Amazon’s new headquarters after the company listed Northern Virginia, Maryland and D.C. among its 20 finalists in January.

Industry watchers and even betting markets have zeroed in on the D.C. area as a likely landing spot for HQ2.

At a dinner I attended last night, @profgalloway had an incredibly convincing argument why DC was already in the bag. https://t.co/emOsHWk4VJ

— Jason Kint (@jason_kint) September 14, 2018

At a point in life where he doesn’t want to spend 3 months a year anywhere else except NYC or DC. Same with wife. Run contest, get best deal, get DC to match. Plus a lot of benefits to company w additional influence in DC. Correct, Scott?

— Jason Kint (@jason_kint) September 14, 2018

Arlington earned high marks as a particularly strong contender after the county submitted both a Crystal City site and locations along the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor for consideration.

Amazon officials subsequently toured those locations this spring, and even linked many of its employees to a particular ARLnow article about the county’s environmental accolades.