14 DAY TRIAL // The software giant is looking to expand from 30.000 employees to no less than 12.000 on its campus in Redmond. For a period of three years, Microsoft will spend no less than $1 billion to grow the size of its campus more than a third of what it is now, adding 14 new buildings or 1 million square meters. The move was part of an expansion plan spread out over the next 20 years, but Microsoft has stepped up the pace as it is no longer content to run side by side with Google and Yahoo.
"The Redmond you'll see even in a year will make your eyes pop," said Lou Gellos, a Microsoft spokesman. "It's going to be a very different campus."
Microsoft's expansion will take it beyond the city's limits, but also in downtown Redmond and in a skyscraper in nearby Bellevue.
The Redmond company plans to hire at least 4.000 to 5.000 employees in the reminder of the year, boosting without a doubt the local economy in the Seattle area. This comes as a result of the fact that every newly created technology-related job triggers the birth of approximately 4 jobs in the service sector. "The real reason you want these jobs is for the multiplier effect," said Bill McSherry, director of economic development at the Puget Sound Regional Council in Seattle.
Still, there are some who do not see Microsoft's expansion as a good thing. Local residents of Redmond are far from applauding another 12.000 employees in an already overcrowded city, the impact on an outdated infrastructure and the increase in real estate prices.