Facebook develops apartments to help solve shortage in Menlo Park, CA

Impetus

Concerns about Silicon Valley’s housing shortage are turning the world’s leading social media company into an apartment developer.
Fast-growing Facebook Inc. is in the midst of a push to expand its headquarters complex in its hometown of Menlo Park, Calif., a plan for 6,500 new employees that has rankled some locals frustrated with crowding.

So in an effort to shore up city support, Facebook earlier this month made an unusual pledge for a tech company. It would build at least 1,500 units of housing, meant not specifically for Facebook employees, but for the general public.

The novel move is a gesture intended to address a growing frustration in the region: too many workers, too few homes. More in WSJ:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/facebooks-answer-to-silicon-valley-housing-crunch-build-apartments-1469534402

BASHIR

Foxconn but with funky furniture and free continental breakfast!

If it's meant for others and is truly a gift to the community it is commendable to be fair

seamus

Facebook is approaching its peak. Recent figures released have shown that content on facebook is reaching a tipping point where the majority of users are simply sharing links rather than creating new content of their own. As peoples' friends list expand and concerns about privacy grow, people are becoming less eager to share anything and everything and feel more comfortable resharing links from others or make politicial or social statements that are personally neutral.

Personal conversations and photo sharing is moving to direct personal messengers. Which is still good for Facebook considering they own two of the biggest - WhatsApp and Messenger. But it's very bad news for the main facebook site because it tends to create a more polarising content set, driving people away, but also risks becoming stale. Then it becomes just another socialised new aggregator like digg or reddit, which are notoriously difficult to keep a handle on and can burn out very very quickly.

Like Google, Facebook has been diversifying it's product set for the last five years and making capital investments all over the place to ensure that it can still be a huge company even after the Facebook site inevitably falls out of favour and gets displaced by the next big thing in online media.

Becoming a property developer in one of the most expensive locations in the world is just another extension of Facebook's portfolio diversification. It's a capital investment designed to lock in cash and make it grow in value. It's not charity work.

SEPT 23 1989

Is that near the Hammock district?

pickarooney

Why in the name of God would they need 6500 more employees?

Mr. Incognito

Who wants to live in a Facebook house.

Serious privacy issues.

beach_walker

It's a good move. Due to numerous factors including loads of new jobs and vested interests in keeping property values high, getting accommodation seems like a nightmare in the Bay area. Have a few friends there and the stories of rent and commuting time are shocking.

If light travels faster than the speed of sound, how come I can hear the guy in the BMW behind me beeping before the light turns green?

Mr. Incognito

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

Who wants to live in a Facebook house.

Serious privacy issues.

I imagine a 1984/Equilibrium style scenario, but with Mark Zuckerburg's faux smile.

Impetus

Multi-nationals like Facebook should be doing similar in Ireland due to the shortage of housing in the right location.

They are, after all, pricing Irish entrepreneurs out of setting up many businesses - especially where they require staff with type of expertise being sucked up by Facebook, Google & co. This is distorting the market and inhibiting the formation of capital in the economy. The least they might do is to add to the stock of homes - for everybody.

Winterlong

Housing is bad here but nuts in San Francisco, Palo Alto etc. 1 bed apartments going for $2500 plus per month. Unfurnished.
So if facebook need to hire more employess and those employees had to pay that kind of rent they would want big wages.

Cheaper to build your own campus and pay the employees less...plus it makes it harder for those employees to leave you.

corner of hells

I'm imaging a Hank Scorpio type scenario, though with loads of blokes wearing GAA jerseys and maybe the FCA getting involved.

The_Valeyard

Probably have to accept friend requests from your neighbours and have sponsored adds on the walls.

764dak

What's the name of the housing programme used to develop these homes?

Mint Aero

BASHIR wrote: »

Foxconn but with funky furniture and free continental breakfast!

If it's meant for others and is truly a gift to the community it is commendable to be fair

They'll profit off it. Gift me hole.