Cities Want Amazon. But Is HQ2 a Good Deal?

An Amazon worker walks down steps in a company office before an event announcing several new Amazon products by the company, Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2017, in Seattle.

By the end of this year, Amazon says it will choose the city where it will build the company's second North American headquarters.

Since it announced the project, cities across the country have jumped at the chance to host the mega-office. Now, Amazon has whittled the list of contenders down to 20, including New York City and Newark, N.J.

The campus, wherever it lands, will be a big prize. Amazon says it will bring 50,000 employees earning high median incomes in addition to $5 billion in investments for the city that is selected.

As the final months of 2018 wind down, where do things stand with the hunt for the new headquarters, and will the winning city get a good deal considering the tax breaks and subsidies many are offering to lure the tech giant.

This week on Money Talking, Charlie Herman talks with The Guardian’s business editor Dominic Rushe and Karen Weise, a Seattle-based technology reporter from The New York Times about the latest developments in the search for Amazon's HQ2.