Amazon com : Cities shunned by Amazon revive hopes for HQ given New York opposition
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cities that were shunned in Amazon.com Inc's search for a secondary corporate headquarters are revisiting their bids in case one of the actual winners, New York City, rejects the corporate giant due to opposition from local politicians.
Chicago, Miami and Newark are among the passed-over finalists that have expressed interest in another chance to become the home of an Amazon project that could bring 25,000 jobs. Nashville, Tennessee, which was awarded a 5,000-person center, also said it was open to taking on a bigger role should New York withdraw from consideration.
Newark, New Jersey, some 15 miles (24 km) to the west of New York City, is willing to share the headquarters in the event its larger neighbor would be satisfied with a scaled-down project, said Aisha Glover, chief executive of Newark Alliance, the group leading that city's effort.
"We're definitely interested in reactivating our bid," Glover said, stressing the importance of keeping Amazon in the New York metropolitan area.
Amazon in November announced New York City and Arlington, Virginia, which borders Washington, D.C., would share the so-called HQ2 project, splitting some 50,000 jobs between the two places as the Seattle-based company looked to expand elsewhere.
But the New York project, to be based in the Long Island City neighborhood in the borough of Queens, just across the East River from Manhattan, has run into opposition from local politicians who oppose the $2.8-billion in incentives promised to Amazon in a deal secretly negotiated by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Among those leading the opposition is state Senator Michael Gianaris, a Democrat who represents the waterfront district where Amazon wants to locate. He criticized offering huge tax credits to a company that made a net profit of $3 billion last quarter and whose chief executive, Jeff Bezos, is listed by Forbes as the richest man in the world.
"The dollars are pointed in the wrong direction. Amazon is trying to take, take, take. There's no consideration of the devastation they would wreak on the surrounding community," said Gianaris, raising concerns about the impact on public transportation, schools and low-income housing that are already under strain.
The state senate has nominated Gianaris to the Public Authorities Control Board, which could sink the project as it has other deals in the past. In 2005, the board rejected a plan to build an Olympic and American football stadium in Manhattan.
Among Gianaris' allies is U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the rookie Democratic congresswoman from a nearby district whose progressive politics have captured a large national following.
Amazon has the support of other politicians including Cuomo, who has yet to ratify Gianaris' position on the control board.
Amazon said it is not reaching out to any finalists.
https://www.marketscreener.com/AMAZON-COM-12864605/news/Amazon-com-Cities-shunned-by-Amazon-revive-hopes-for-HQ-given-New-York-opposition-28006333/
Qatar revamps investment strategy after Kushner building bailout
LONDON/NEW YORK/DUBAI (Reuters) - When news emerged that Qatar may have unwittingly helped bail out a New York skyscraper owned by the family of Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law, eyebrows were raised in Doha.
Kushner, a senior White House adviser, was a close ally of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman - a key architect of a regional boycott against Qatar, which Riyadh accuses of sponsoring terrorism. Doha denies the charge.
Brookfield, a global property investor in which the Qatari government has placed investments, struck a deal last year that rescued the Kushner Companies' 666 Fifth Avenue tower in Manhattan from financial straits.
The bailout, in which Doha played no part and first learned about in the media, has prompted a rethink of how the gas-rich kingdom invests money abroad via its giant sovereign wealth fund, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The country has decided that the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) will aim to avoid putting money in funds or other investment vehicles it does not have full control over, according to the sources, who are familiar with the QIA's strategy.
"Qatar started looking into how its name got involved into the deal and found out it was because of a fund it co-owned," said one of the sources. "So QIA ultimately triggered a strategy revamp."
A QIA spokesman said: "QIA had absolutely no involvement in the 666 Fifth Avenue development and the claims about QIA's investment strategy are not true. There has been no change in investment strategy with regards to taking majority control."
The QIA did not address other detailed questions from Reuters including about its future investments via funds and any desire to have more control over those money flows.
Canada's Brookfield Asset Management Inc bailed out 666 Fifth Avenue via its real estate unit Brookfield Property Partners, in which the QIA acquired a 9 percent stake five years ago. Both parent and unit declined to comment.
The QIA's strategic shift was made late last year, according to the sources. It offers a rare insight into the thinking of one of the world's most secretive sovereign wealth funds.
The revamp could have significant implications for the global investment scene because the QIA is one of the world's largest state investors, with more than $320 billion under management.
The wealth fund has poured money into the West over the past decade, including rescuing British and Swiss banks during the 2008 financial crisis and investing in landmarks like New York's Plaza Hotel and the Savoy Hotel and Harrods store in London.
QATARI BOYCOTT
Kushner was chief executive of Kushner Companies when it acquired 666 Fifth Avenue in 2007 for $1.8 billion, a record at the time for a Manhattan office building. It has been a drag on his family's real estate company ever since.
https://www.marketscreener.com/news/Qatar-revamps-investment-strategy-after-Kushner-building-bailout–27992005/?countview=0
most likely shaking down the big city's for moar incentives.