Google sells off massive amounts of office space

The world is changing, and nowhere is that more clear than in the tech industry. Lately, search engine leader Google has been trying to downsize the amount of real estate that it owns. Reports claim that the company is going to be selling office space to the tune of 1,400,000 square feet.

Part of the reason for this appears to be the shift to employees working from home. Those offices may not be needed in the way that they were a decade ago. In fact, Google refers to its “hybrid workforce” when explaining the decision. News website SFGATE contacted Google for a statement, and this is what they received:

“As we work to ensure that our real estate investments match the needs of our hybrid workforce, we’re ending leases for a number of unoccupied spaces. We remain committed to our longstanding presence in the Bay Area and investing in the local community.”

This seems to indicate that the company is not necessarily looking to cut more workers. A lot of the offices that are being sold were already unoccupied and weren’t being used. They’re just trying to downsize the amount of real estate that they own, perhaps because they realize that that type of ownership is no longer as important as it once was.

Will they build more space?

Google has been working on a mixed-use construction project, which has been termed “Downtown West.” It is supposed to have 7.3 million square feet dedicated to offices, which could be part of the reason why Google doesn’t need the ones that it currently owns. Downtown West should also have 4,000 housing units, 500,000 square feet for stores and another 15 acres dedicated to providing outdoor space and parks.

However, it’s not clear exactly how this project is going. Some sources have said that Google has put the project on hold, which could indicate that they are reconsidering how much physical land they need to occupy. But Google says that this project is still happening, so it will be interesting to see if it comes to fruition. Is Google simply getting rid of unneeded office space before opening up more, or are they changing the way that the search engine company works forever?

The king of search engines

Google has long been at the top of modern search engines. It still receives the bulk of search traffic every day, processing billions of queries. Changes in office space are unlikely to have a major impact on that, but it’s still important to keep an eye on any changes at Google because of the power and influence that the company holds. Here at Content Customs, we are well aware of Google’s supremacy in the search engine space and how to work with business owners to get their sites to rank at the top. Call us today to learn more.