With all of the acquisitions that Google has been heading as of late, a problem has arisen for the search giant; where to put all of the new employees? Well, they seem to have an answer for that. Google looks to be leasing a massive 35,000 sq. ft. building of office space, meant to house 200 of Google’s newest employees, specifically those gained through acquisitions such as Nest Labs, SlickLogin, and Boston Dynamics. Google already has an office in San Fran’s SoMa neighborhood, and word is that they intend to open another facility in the South Park region. Recently, a lot of tech giants, such as Twitter, Pintrest, and Yammer, have been opening new offices in the San Fran region, much to the dismay of the residential community. While having such high-profile companies there is all well and good for the city’s reputation, the downside is that the rents are raising and neighborhoods are becoming gentrified. The super majority of these protests have come from a region called the Mission, which is, of course, where Google intends to open this new branch.
For a quick review of the companies that I mentioned, SlickLogin is an Israeli startup company that uses your own voice as verification rather than traditional passwords. Nest Labs was the creator of the Learning Thermostat and the Protect smoke and carbon dioxide protectors, with Boston Dynamics focused on making nature-inspired robotics. As to why Google chose these companies to acquire, your guess is as good as mine. Google is famous for taking bits and pieces of what a company has started with and turning it into something fantastic. Of course, they could also be buying them for patent reasons to try to limit the growing number of patent trolls out there that have caused a number of problems for Google in the past. As time goes on, we shall see what Google intends to do with these acquisition, and what new innovative ideas will come out of this new San Fran branch. Do you have any thoughts on the matter? Does anyone live in San Fran and care to weigh in on what it’s like there with so many big name companies? Let us know in the comments down below!