Facebook opens new office in London, to hire 800 people

London Dec 4 (IANS) Facebook has opened a new office in London and has announced that it would hire 800 people which will take the total strength of its employees in Britain to 2 300 workers by the end of 2018 the media reported on Monday.

The new seven-storey office building in central London will make the British capital Facebook s largest computer engineering base outside of the US The Telegraph reported.

"Today s announcements show that Facebook is more committed than ever to the UK and in supporting the growth of the country s innovative start-ups " said Nicola Mendelsohn Facebook s Vice President for Europe the Middle East and Africa.

Facebook opened its first office in London 10 years ago. The new building will house developers and sales staff.

Google Apple and Snap the parent company of Snapchat have expanded their operations in London since the Brexit vote last year the report added.

"It s a sign of confidence in our country that innovative companies like Facebook invest here and it s terrific news that they will be hiring 800 more highly skilled workers next year " Chancellor Philip Hammond said.

--IANS
na/ksk