Google has added an extra 400 staff to its UK headcount as it prepares to move into its huge new office in London’s King’s Cross.
Total UK staff numbers rose from 7,005 to 7,422 by the end of 2023, the tech giant’s accounts show, an increase of 6% on the previous year but a slowdown compared to the more-than 1,300 extra staff the company took on in 2022.
The increase in UK employees count comes despite the fact that Google announced it would axe more than 12,000 staff worldwide at the beginning of 2023, in signs the firm has doubled down on its commitment to its UK operations as it concentrates on AI investment.
Much of Google’s AI research and development takes place in the UK, including on its Gemini AI services, stemming in part from its acquisition of London AI business DeepMind in 2014. DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis was today awarded a share of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his “revolutionary” work on proteins.
Google is preparing for the opening of its enormous new King’s Cross office, capable of accommodating up to 7,000 staff, which is due for completion by the end of 2025. According to its accounts, at the beginning of this year Google still had £81.6m in capital commitments relating work on the building which had not yet been carried out. Construction commenced in 2018.
The company, which recently unveiled its new Pixel range of smartphones, posted UK revenues of £2.8bn in 2023, an increase of 7.8% on the previous year, while pre-tax profits jumped by a third to £374m.
The results come amid reports the US government is exploring a break-up of Google after accusing it of being responsible for “pernicious harms” to Americans in what could prove to be biggest regulatory upset in the history of Silicon Valley.
The US Department of Justice has accused the company of using its Chrome browser and Android operating system to push users to its own search engine, which accounts for about 90% of all online searches.
“Google’s unlawful conduct persisted for over a decade and involved a number of self-reinforcing tactics,” the DoJ said.
Google has rejected the plans, describing them as “radical” and “sweeping” and claiming they “risk hurting consumers, businesses, and developers.”