14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook is growing on all accounts and it's getting too big for its current headquarters. As the company continues to hire more people, it has been looking to move into more spacious accommodations and it looks like the former Sun Microsystems campus is a fitting candidate.
The company is apparently looking to move to the new site, but it doesn't really want to own it so it is considering a 'leaseback,' selling the building after it has acquired it and then leasing it from the new owner.
TechCrunch reported at the start of 2011 that the former Sun/Oracle campus in Menlo Park California has been chosen by Facebook as its next home.
Facebook has confirmed that it is looking for a new place and that it is taking the initial steps for one particular location, but it would not confirm whether the Sun campus is that location.
“We are exploring options for a long-term location to fit our growing business needs. We are in the due diligence phase on one potential site, but it would be premature to offer any specifics. We hope to have more to share in the near future once things have been finalized,” a Facebook spokesperson said.
The new site is close to the current location, about six miles from Facebook's Palo Alto home. The company has had the same headquarters for the past two years now, in which time it grew about five times and added several hundreds of millions of new users.
The current location has about 150,000 square feet of office space, which became inadequate almost as soon as Facebook moved in. Right now, Facebook also rents some space close to its main headquarters for some of its 2,000 or so employees. But it has been adding new employees at an accelerated rate and it if wants to keep growing it's going to need a lot more breathing room.