When trying to lure Amazon to Virginia, the state offered the tech giant financial incentives to choose the Commonwealth for its HQ2. Now, four years later, Amazon is requesting its first payment.
Amazon formally requested the first installment of the $750 million in economic incentives offered by Virginia, asking for $152 million dollars of it by the close of 2026.
The incentives were based, in part, on Amazon’s local performance and hiring, with Virginia agreeing to pay the company $22,000 for each full-time hire making more than a $150,000 salary.
The company’s application meets the April 1 deadline to file with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership.
“VEDP is still in the process of verifying the information in Amazon’s application and we hope to have this completed by April 19,” said Suzanne Clark with VEDP.
“It’s a fairly common practice for governments to incentivize companies to invest locally and create jobs in their communities. So far, we’ve exceeded the projections laid out in the agreement we signed with Virginia in 2018 by creating and maintaining over 8,000 jobs at HQ2,” Amazon’s Holly Sullivan, Vice President of Worldwide Economic Development said in a statement.
Amazon’s HQ2 is still on track to open to the public and employees in June, Sullivan confirmed.
