Amazon is planning to build another headquarters outside Seattle (AMZN)

Jeff Bezos

Amazon announced on Thursday that it is planning to open another headquarters called Amazon HQ2 in a currently unknown North American city.

Amazon HQ2 will cost $5 billion (£3.8 billion) and eventually house up to 50,000 Amazon staff, Amazon said in a press release.

The ecommerce giant currently has its main HQ spread across 33 buildings in Seattle but its aggressive expansion means it is quickly running out of space in the city.

"We expect HQ2 to be a full equal to our Seattle headquarters, said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO, in a statement.

"Amazon HQ2 will bring billions of dollars in up-front and ongoing investments, and tens of thousands of high-paying jobs. We're excited to find a second home."

Amazon employs more than 380,000 people worldwide, with around 40,000 of those in Seattle.

Amazon Seattle

Amazon said it wants HQ2 to be in a metropolitan area with a "stable and business friendly environment" with more than 1 million people. The company added that the location should be an urban or suburban location with potential to attract strong technical talent.

Amazon made a point of stressing that HQ2 will be a "complete headquarters" for Amazon as opposed to a satellite office.

The company said it expects to hire new teams and execs at HQ2, adding that employees in "HQ1" could be given the opportunity to relocate to HQ2.

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