On the surface, these condo purchases seem suspicious. OTOH, there are thousands and thousands of Amazon employees, so, one might ask: how many condos in NYC do Amazon employees typically purchase per month? Is that number zero?
Buying real estate ahead of such an announcement doesn't break any laws (edit: it might have violated employee agreements if Amazon has anything in there about acting on insider info, not an Amazon employee so I cannot comment on that). It's not as if this was a short dated deep out of the money call options play based on insider information (most definitely against the law; don't do this!).
if the underlying implication ever actually proves true, then i have to wonder how these 2 employees even got that info ahead of time. i would have thought only Bezos and few top execs would have known this info before the announcement.
Your concern should be with any elected official who offered Amazon concessions to locate in NYC. When their reelection comes up, it should be expressed that New Yorker's subsidized a trillion dollar company.
> Your concern should be with any elected official who offered Amazon concessions to locate in NYC.
Also, Amazon has thousands of employees in NYC already. LIC is close to Midtown Manhattan, a few subway stops away and is a neighborhood full of new construction.
It makes sense for any employees to buy there regardless of any situation...doesn't?
Since when is "Buying a nice apartment in a desirable neighborhood near work" a suspicious or criminal thing? Geez.
A person losing money due to insider trading has almost certainly invested in a company that was not worth what they thought it was. If they’re a victim, then whose victim are they really? I have a hard time blaming the insider trader.
So it's the right thing to do? Insider trading helps everyone by adding more information to the markets.
I understand why people are upset over Amazon's behavior with the new headquarters, but this article is scraping the bottom of the barrel for new headlines to stoke outrage over. There is literally nothing wrong with acting on insider information in a context outside of securities trading, which real estate is not.
That will include many to do the large amount of the work that needs to be done in New York before the new offices actually open.
It is quite likely that these condo buyers are such people, moving to New York to work on opening the new offices and then to work at those offices.
If it is only a small number of employees, there is no reason for them not to find housing in New York as soon as they can after finding out they are transferring.