Bosses and elected officials ask Amazon to return to New York

"We all hope that you will reverse your decision and join us in building the exciting future of New York," some 80 signatories, including CEOs of banks Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup, wrote in the letter. professional software group SAP and the airline JetBlue.

Among the elected signatories are several members of the House of Representatives, from New York constituencies.

In mid-February, Amazon announced that it would give up setting up its new headquarters in New York, three months after having chosen the financial capital of the United States to create, at least, 25.000 jobs, and up to 40.000 by 2034 .

The Seattle group then cited opposition from "local political figures" to justify its decision.

Outraged to have been excluded from the negotiations between New York and Amazon, conducted secretly by Governor Andrew Cuomo and the mayor Bill de Blasio, several elected officials had criticized the project, which notably provided for some $ 3 billion in tax cuts.

Democratic senators in the New York State parliament even threatened to overturn the file through an obscure committee whose validation was necessary.

"A clear majority of New Yorkers support this project and were disappointed with your decision not to proceed," write the authors of the letter.

They seek to convince Jeff Bezos that in the event of a flip-flop, Amazon would have the guarantee that the project would not be thwarted politically.

According to the New York Times, New York State’s Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo has made more contact with Amazon officials in recent hours to try to reverse the situation.

When contacted by AFP, Amazon did not react immediately.