Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks on stage at the annual Google I / O developer conference in Mountain View, California, May 8, 2018.
Stephen Lam | Reuters
Google says it plans to spend more than $ 7 billion on US real estate in 2021 as it picks up on the Covid-19 pandemic.
The company said the money will go to expanding offices and data centers in 19 states, creating what it says will amount to at least 10,000 full-time jobs. $ 1 billion will go specifically to California.
“Coming together in person to collaborate and build community is critical to Google’s culture and will continue to be an important part of our future,” CEO Sundar Pichai said in a blog post on Thursday. “So we continue to make significant investments in our offices across the country, as well as in our home state of California, where we will invest over $ 1 billion this year.”
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, discontinued real estate spending last year as a result of the pandemic and the first annual decline in Google’s revenue in the second quarter of last year.
Data center extensions come as the company aggressively grows its cloud business. The company disclosed operating results for that business in its latest earnings report, revealing that it lost $ 5.61 billion in revenue of $ 13.06 billion last year. Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian told investors last month that he was focusing on developing the business now, with an eye on profitability.
The company plans to bring workers back to the offices starting this fall. Pichai previously said that Google will not adopt a permanent remote work plan, expecting most employees to report to the assigned offices three days a week starting in September.
As part of the expansions, Pichai said the company will add thousands of new roles to its offices in Atlanta, Washington, DC, Chicago and New York.
“This will help bring more jobs and investment to various communities as part of our previously announced racial equity commitments,” Pichai said, adding that 2020 was Google’s largest year of hiring Black and Latinx employees. from the USA
The company plans to open new offices in Seattle, Houston and Mississippi. It is in the process of planning several massive ground developments in various cities, including near the headquarters in Mountain View, California, where it incorporates housing.
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