Both Meta and Microsoft have embraced remote work. (representative)
California:
Facebook’s parent companies Meta and Microsoft are separately moving out office buildings in Seattle and Bellevue, Washington. This is the latest sign of changes in the tech sector and a softening of the office market, reports The Seattle Times.
Facebook confirmed Friday plans to sublease offices in the six-story Arbor Block 333 in downtown Seattle and the 11-story Block 6 in Bellevue’s Spring District, The Seattle Times reported.
The Menlo Park, Calif.-based social media giant said it is also considering leasing other Seattle-area office buildings. It is the phase of the economic cycle that
The Seattle Times confirmed a report the same day that Redmond-based Microsoft will not renew its lease on Bellevue’s 26-story City Center Plaza, which expires in June 2024.
According to The Seattle Times, the announcement is due to the continued popularity of remote work and a slowdown in technology due to massive job cuts, which has reduced demand for office space in Seattle and elsewhere.
According to the daily, both Meta and Microsoft are adopting remote work while cutting workforces as the tech sector swoons. In November, Meta announced layoffs of 726 Seattle-area workers.
Meta spokeswoman Tracy Clayton told the Seattle Times that the leasing decision was largely due to the company’s move to remote or “distributed” work. However, he also admitted that “given the economic climate,” Mehta is “trying to be financially cautious.”
Meta now occupies all of Seattle’s Arbor Block 333 and would have occupied all of Block 6 when it is scheduled to open later this year. The company still has offices in 29 buildings and about 8,000 employees in the Seattle area, according to Clayton, making it his second-largest engineering hub after its Menlo Park headquarters.
A Microsoft spokesperson said the company’s decision on City Center Plaza is part of an ongoing evaluation of the company’s “real estate portfolio to provide great places to work and create greater collaboration and community for employees.” I explained that it is.
The City Center Plaza decision comes amid a major refurbishment of Microsoft’s Redmond campus, part of which is expected to be completed in late 2023. Economic headwinds and slow return of remote office workers.
That struggle is most evident in downtown Seattle, where office vacancy rates are now at 25%, according to a new report from commercial real estate firm Colliers.
According to The Seattle Times, even offices that aren’t full are often half empty due to remote work. Since last summer, only about 40% of pre-pandemic workers have been in downtown Seattle, according to his Placer.ai cell phone location data posted by the Downtown Seattle Association.
(Except for the headline, this article is unedited by NDTV staff and published from a syndicated feed.)
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