Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks on stage during Google’s annual I / O Developer Conference in Mountain View, California on May 8, 2018.
Stephen Lam | Reuters
Google says it plans to invest more than $ 7 billion in real estate in the United States in 2021 as it picks up spending in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The company said the money will go to expanding offices and data centers in 19 states, creating what it says will mean at least 10,000 full-time jobs. $ 1 billion will go specifically to California.
“Gathering in person to collaborate and build community is at the core of Google’s culture, and will continue to be an important part of our future,” CEO Sundar Pichai said Thursday in a blog post. “Therefore, we continue to make significant investments in our offices across the country, as well as in our home state of California, where we will invest more than $ 1 billion this year.”
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, stopped its real estate spending last year in the wake of the pandemic and the first annual drop in Google revenue during the second quarter of last year.
Data center expansions come as the company aggressively grows its business in the cloud. The company released the operating results of this business in its latest earnings report, revealing that it lost $ 5.6 billion in revenue of $ 13.06 million last year. Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian told investors last month that he was focusing on growing the business now, with his eyes set on profitability.
The company plans to return workers to the offices starting this fall. Pichai previously said Google would not adopt a permanent remote work plan, as it expected most employees to show up at assigned offices three days a week starting in September.
As part of the expansions, Pichai said the company will add thousands of new papers to its offices in Atlanta, Washington, DC, Chicago and New York.
“This will help bring more jobs and investments to diverse communities as part of our previously announced racial equity commitments,” Pichai said, adding that 2020 was his largest year of hiring employees. of Google of Black and Latinx in the US
The company plans to open new offices in Seattle, Houston and Mississippi. It is in the process of planning several massive land developments in several cities, including the nearby headquarters in Mountain View, California, where it incorporates housing.
Watch now: Google extends remote work and rejects permanent remote work