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Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
- Amazon said Tuesday that it's splitting its second headquarters, known as HQ2, between Virginia and New York.
- The company had originally said it would select one city for its new headquarters.
- Amazon changed course and decided to split the campuses to gain greater access to talent, the company said.
Amazon said Tuesday that it will split its second headquarters between two cities: Arlington, Virginia, and Long Island City in Queens, New York.
When Amazon launched its headquarters search more than a year ago, the company promised a $5 billion investment and 50,000 new jobs to the winning city.
Now, those jobs will be split evenly among Virginia and New York.
The split, news of which had previously leaked, came as a shock to many who had been following the highly publicized contest for Amazon's new headquarters.
Amazon explained its decision to halve its headquarters on Tuesday, saying it was driven by access to talent.
"We can recruit more top talent by being in two locations," the company said in a news release. "These are fantastic cities that attract a lot of great talent."
