Facebook plans to add 500 U.K. employees in 2017
Facebook is increasing its presence in the U.K. with a plan to hire 500 more employees for its London headquarters.
The expansion, announced in London Monday at the Confederation of British Industry's annual conference, would increase by 50% the company's current 1,000 employees there. Facebook's move runs counter to some concerns that the nation's Brexit vote to leave the European Union could stifle tech industry growth in the U.K.
Facebook opened its office in London in 2007 "with just a handful of people," said Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook's vice-president of Europe, Middle East and Africa, in a statement from Facebook. She spoke at the CBI event Monday.
By the end of 2017, the social networking giant expects to have 1,500 employees there and a new headquarters, she said. "Many of those new roles will be high skilled engineering jobs as the UK is home to our largest engineering base outside of the US and is where we have developed new products like Workplace."
Also in the U.K., Facebook is developing its solar-powered unmanned Internet-delivering Aquila planes at a high tech design facility in Somerset, England. “The UK remains one of the best places to be a tech company and is an important part of Facebook's story," Mendolsohn said.
"We think the U.K. is a fantastic home for technology companies, high tech companies. We have seen real growth here," she said in an interview with Bloomberg before her CBI talk. "Brexit, it's still too early to say what is going to happen."
U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, according to the conference's news site, called Facebook's announcement a good sign and "just one example of how businesses are saying ‘actually the U.K. is a good place to invest and a good place to do business.'”
Facebook's decision buttresses London’s strength as a tech hub, said London Mayor Sadiq Khan said in a statement. "The capital's vibrant tech scene is the envy of Europe and Facebook's continuing commitment is another sign that London is open to talent, innovation and entrepreneurship from all four corners of the world," he said.
Earlier this month, Google said that it was continuing its plans for a new headquarters in London that would increase its workplace capacity to 7,000 employees. CEO Sundar Pichai told the BBC that immigration policies that curtailed the free flow of skilled tech employees were critical to the company's success.
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