Facebook Goes on New York Hiring Spree
Facebook is planning to open an engineering center in New York City, the social-networking giant's first such office outside of the West Coast.
The company made the announcement Friday afternoon and disclosed plans to go on a hiring spree for New York-based engineers. The Facebook office in Manhattan is currently home to the company's marketing and advertising offices.
"We will hire as much talent as we can find," said Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) were on hand for the announcement.
The Bloomberg administration has made the expansion of the city's tech sector a priority during its third term, with a push to attract more firms and plans to open a new applied-science school that will foster the talent sought by both start-ups and established companies like Facebook.
Google is also among the tech companies that have placed a big bet on the city's growing tech scene. The internet-search giant recently bought a massive 2.9 million-square-foot office building in Chelsea where it expects to add to its workforce.
Twitter just moved into a space down the street from Facebook's office on Madison Avenue. In fact, the micro-blogging service actually took office space that Facebook had previously occupied before it moved to its current and larger office.