14 DAY TRIAL // While other companies have cut investments in the United Kingdom because of the country’s vote to leave the European Union, Google plans to do exactly the opposite, as it wants to expand in the region and create as many as 3,000 new jobs.
Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai said in an interview with the BBC that the search giant would open a new headquarters in London and hire approximately 3,000 workers, in addition to the 4,000 the company already has in the country. Google currently has more than 57,000 employees worldwide.
“The UK has been a tremendous market for us,” Pichai explained. “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 UK has a strong economy, Google thinks
Talking about the worries expressed by other companies in the United Kingdom following the Brexit vote, Pichai says that everyone at Google believes in the strength of the UK economy, and although the vote to leave the EU could have secondary effects in the long term, the search firm is committed to investing here.
“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.”
Google’s expansion in the United Kingdom will cost approximately 1 billion pounds and is part of a broader plan announced in 2013 when the Brexit vote wasn’t yet on the table.