Amazon Executive, Mike Grella, Slammed Leaker Who Shared Secondary Headquarter Details
News recently broke on several media outlets that Amazon has allegedly zeroed in on Crystal City – a town in Northern Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C. – as the secondary headquarters for the $800 billion company.
According to a report by the Washington Post, the company is in advanced talks about opening the secondary headquarters and bringing 50,000 new jobs to Crystal City. The advanced discussion included how quickly employees would get transferred, which buildings the company would occupy, and how Amazon would announce the move to the public. The Washington Post cited “people close to the process” as their source for this information.
Amazon – and all of their executives – are known for being notoriously private. Executives and employees all across the company decline to participate in interviews or to make any type of comment to the press without getting clear consent from the Seattle headquarters.
Mike Grella, Amazon’s director of economic development and public policy, strayed away from the company’s typical privacy to slam whoever it was that leaked information to the Washington Post about the secondary headquarters.
“Memo to the genius leaking info about Crystal City, VA as #HQ2 selection. You’re not doing Crystal City, VA any favors,” Grella penned in a tweet Saturday afternoon.
as an Amazon spokesman said, where Jeff flies to and doesn’t fly to says nothing about #HQ2 cities. The search team has earned his trust and the highest use of his time isn’t looking at vacant buildings and land- he has a company to run. –#Amazon https://t.co/eaWmyv6YHF
— Mike Grella (@MikeGrella) November 3, 2018
Grella proceeded to point out that whoever it was that leaked the information to the media was technically in violation of an NDA they had signed. For anyone unfamiliar with the term, NDA stands for non-disclosure agreement. When a person signs an NDA, they agree not to discuss any details with anyone outside of other individuals who also signed the NDA. NDAs are commonly used in the business world to keep certain details a secret.
Based on Grella’s tweet, it appears there was an NDA in place regarding this information and someone violated it.
While Grella linked to the CNBC story regarding Amazon’s secondary headquarters, it was the Washington Post that first broke the news.
Grella did post a secondary tweet, criticizing the media outlet for using Jeff Bezos’ jet flight history to zero in on where the second headquarters for the company might located.
“‘Experts’ say following Bezos’s jet may reveal #HQ2 winner… the finalists are apparently Davos (WEF), Sun Valley (Allen & Co.), Rome (vacation), & Hollywood (Oscars). In other news Google, FaceBook, Tesla moving HQ to Black Rock Desert, NV,” Grella wrote in his second tweet.
While Amazon has reportedly explored other cities such as Atlanta, Georgia and Austin, Texas, the “people close to the process” told the Washington Post the discussions with Crystal City have been much more detailed than anything discussed with other potential locations.
Memo to the genius leaking info about Crystal City, VA as #HQ2 selection. You’re not doing Crystal City, VA any favors. And stop treating the NDA you signed like a used napkin. https://t.co/wqrZLqr8MQ
— Mike Grella (@MikeGrella) November 3, 2018
While the media outlet did not reveal their source, the individual (or individuals) who leaked the information could be in some hot water for violating their NDA.
