Google backs UK with £1bn investment plan

[Benji 20,113]

Google is to open a new headquarters building in London which could see 3,000 new jobs created by 2020. The news comes as a major boost to Britain's technology sector. Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Google, told the BBC that the UK was still an attractive place to do business.

Although Google refused to be drawn on the cost of the UK investment, development experts said the new building in King's Cross and the cost of employing thousands more staff was likely to put the figure at over £1bn.

At present, Google employs around 4,000 people in the UK, a figure that could now rise to 7,000. The office space owned by Google in King's Cross will more than double. "The UK has been a tremendous market for us," Mr Pichai told me. "We see big opportunities here. This is a big commitment from us - we have some of the best talent in the world in the UK and to be able to build great products from here sets us up well for the long term."

The new 650,000 sq-ft headquarters has been designed by Thomas Heatherwick, the architect behind the "garden bridge" across the Thames. He was brought in by Google after its founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, rejected initial designs for a new headquarters as "too boring" in 2013.

Many companies raised fears before the referendum that if Britain voted to leave the European Union, foreign investment would be affected. Questions were raised over whether Google would commit to the new building but Mr Pichai made it clear the strength of the UK economy went far beyond the Brexit vote. "The innovation we see here, the talent we have available here and how on the cutting edge of technology we are able to be here makes it an incredible place for us to invest," he said. "We do value how open and connected it is and we can bring in talent from anywhere in the world and we value those attributes and we are optimistic that those will stay true over time. So we did [make the investment decision] taking into consideration [the referendum], but we are very optimistic."

Full Article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37988095

[Luc 4,776]

Time for the European Commission to give them a big fine! I'm sure there's some tax evasion going on that they could be fined for.

[Benji 20,113]

4 minutes ago, Luc said:

Time for the European Commission to give them a big fine! I'm sure there's some tax evasion going on that they could be fined for.

Y'all can keep on hoping!