Nicolas Sarkozy Hangs Out with Eric Schmidt at French Google HQ Inauguration

Google has just opened up its new French headquarters. This isn't just some small local office, Google plans to run all of its business in South Europe, Africa and the Middle East from here.

Google Executive Chairman and diplomat extraordinaire Eric Schmidt was there and so was French President Nicolas Sarkozy.  

"Our investment plan for France is ambitious, and extends far beyond buildings," Google wrote.

"We’re expanding our engineering presence to take advantage of France’s strong engineering talent pool and are making significant academic investments, including a partnership with the French national research center CNRS," it added.

Google plans to expand more ambitiously in France after this initial foray. Google's international headquarters is in Dublin, Ireland, taking advantage of the country's small corporation tax.

But it seems that Google is making more of a commitment locally in some countries. It also has a somewhat strong presence in the UK for example. The video above is in French, but English subtitles should become available soon.