Apple CEO Tim Cook Says Amazon-Style HQ Search Creates 'A Lot Of Losers'
Amazon's public search for its second headquarters generated breathless excitement, trepidation and a countrywide competition over where the best fit (and possibly the most generous incentive package) would be.
Apple Inc. is also searching for a second headquarters, but in a much less public fashion, which CEO Tim Cook said is by design in an upcoming interview on MSNBC, The Verge reports.
"We're not doing a beauty contest sort of thing. That's not Apple," he said.
Apple's new second campus, part of a $30B expansion plan expected to add 20,000 jobs, will initially house the company's tech support and customer service operations. Cook has stayed mum on what locations the company is scouting but did say in his interview, to be aired April 6 on MSNBC, that it will not be in California or Texas.
During his chat with MSNBC's Chris Hayes and Recode's Kara Swisher, Cook explained his reticence toward Amazon's public HQ2 search.
“From our point of view, we did not want to create this contest because I think what comes out of that is you wind up putting people through a ton of work ... [only for a company to select one winner] ... So that is a case where you have a winner and a lot of losers, unfortunately," Cook said. "I don’t like that.”
While Cook stressed that he does not condemn the municipalities who are fighting for Amazon's favor, he also said that he is looking for a win-win deal with Apple's next home.
