Amazon.com’s head Jeff Bezos said Thursday (September 13) during an interview at the Economic Club in Washington D.C. that the world will know shortly the location of its second headquarters.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Bezos wouldn’t name names when asked about the location of the new headquarters, only saying the company will announce the winning city before the end of this year. He said the company has made a lot of progress on that front.
With Amazon’s size and reach raising the ire of President Donald Trump and facing political backlash among some lawmakers, Bezos took to the stage to acknowledge that big companies should be scrutinized, but argued it applies to U.S. presidents as well. “All big institutions of any kind will be and should be scrutinized,” Bezos said, reported the Wall Street Journal. “It’s not personal. It’s kind of what we want to have as a society happen.” Bezos didn’t call President Trump out by name but said lawmakers shouldn’t vilify businesses given they create a lot of value. “There are certain things that only big companies can do,” Bezos said. “Nobody in their garage is going to build an all-fiber fuel-efficient Boeing 787.”
When asked about President Trump’s critical tweets about Amazon, Bezos said he doesn’t need to defend the company but that he will defend the Washington Post, the newspaper he owns, saying it’s a mistake for any elected official to attack journalists. “It is dangerous to demonize the media,” Bezos said, noting he has had conversations with Trump but is keeping the content of those discussions private, reported the Wall Street Journal.
The interview came on the same day Bezos announced via Twitter that he is committing $2 billion and eventually more to a new charitable organization that helps homeless people and educates preschoolers, reported the Wall Street Journal.