appreciatethecandor t1_itwoxfv wrote
Reply to comment by [deleted] in Alphabet is ramping up scrutiny of all its projects and cutting hiring in half as it tries to curb costs by chrisdh79
>My comment was about the strategy behind the purchase of a building, not mass agglomeration,
One way Google attracts talent by building nice offices and providing perks that their competitors don't, such as an office with a fully operating kitchen providing free meals, daycare, meditation areas, arcades, etc. They're not going to invest this much into a rental, because that would move all the leverage to the landlord to jack up the rent come renewal.
Would you spend $50,000 renovating the backyard of a house you rent? probably not.
>though I do think your simplistic description does not align with the complex reality of what actually happened, and why, in tech hubs over the last decade.
It's easy to be critical, but you haven't offered any insight as to what actually happened.
If what I said wasn't true, why would Google buy a building in Seattle and not in Alabama? If there is a cluster of talent, it's easier for them to open a building there rather than expecting people to move to you. That is why Amazon is also expanding in Bellevue to poach Microsoft talent, because Microsoft employees refuse to drive over the bridge.
doubletagged t1_ityk3zj wrote
Eh it’s primarily because Amazon has major beef with Seattle city council
appreciatethecandor t1_iu1cvyn wrote
Definitely true, but Amazon has bigger issues asides from beef with city council that forced HQ2 and expansion outside of Seattle.
I would say most of it was ability to continue to recruit tech talent, their reputation is essentially a "bottom of the barrel" tech company, a great place to join if you can't get into a better shop.
Amazon has completely saturated the Seattle market, due to the fact that everyone here has worked there once (and used them as a stepping stone to a better company) or would prefer not to touch them with a 10 ft pole, so they kind of had their hand forced and had to expand elsewhere.
[deleted] t1_iu0c1p5 wrote
I think we're still talking about different things. Maybe I poorly explained, perhaps you'd have to understand the local context of SLU.
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