Amazon plans to split its proposed second headquarters in two after failing to find a US city that can accommodate its needs.

The online retail giant has spent over a year looking for a suitable location for “HQ2”, which it has said would be of equal size and importance to its Seattle base.

Cities have been falling over themselves to attract the company, hoping being selected would bring thousands of jobs and millions in tax revenues.

However, Amazon now plans to split the headquarters in two at frustration at the lack of a suitable single candidate, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Amazon has reportedly taken the decision after finding that no single location had enough skilled technology workers.

The two headquarters will have 25,000 people in each office, rather than the 50,000 and $5bn (£3.8bn) in investment that Amazon had promised HQ2 would create.