I just got a tour of the offices last week. For those of you who do not know, this is mostly the DoubleClick crew. A lot of the people working there originally worked for DoubleClick and then became part of Google when Google bought DoubleClick. This is also how Google ended up with a New York office.
To the commenter who said this is a great sign for the New York tech scene, I guess I agree, but this needs to be seen as a rebound from a low point. After all, there was a point back in the 90s when DoubleClick seemed a dominant power, and at that time New York seemed like the natural center of the advertising industry, and it seemed like New York's dominance of advertising would last forever -- all of which later was called in question.
The office has a lot of the amenities that I guess you would associate with a modern high tech company -- there is a game room with pool tables and foos ball and ping pong, there is some nice design elements, there is a little museum of old computers in one of the hallways, people ride down the hallways on scoot rides, there are bunch of little coffee shops where everything is free, and there is a room you can go and get a massage.
For all that, though, I agree with the commenter who said the place is a little dumpy. I'm surprised this place is worth $1.9 billion - I'm always a little surprised at how expensive New York real estate is.
Minor correction: Google opened an the office in NY three or four years before the DoubleClick acquisition. Google was already in the building at the time of the acquisition.
Not quite. They own quite a bit of space in the building, and only about half a floor is ads, not all of which is DoubleClick. There's lots of other projects going on there as well.
(Source: I was an intern there last summer and visit friends there every so often)
To the commenter who said this is a great sign for the New York tech scene, I guess I agree, but this needs to be seen as a rebound from a low point. After all, there was a point back in the 90s when DoubleClick seemed a dominant power, and at that time New York seemed like the natural center of the advertising industry, and it seemed like New York's dominance of advertising would last forever -- all of which later was called in question.
The office has a lot of the amenities that I guess you would associate with a modern high tech company -- there is a game room with pool tables and foos ball and ping pong, there is some nice design elements, there is a little museum of old computers in one of the hallways, people ride down the hallways on scoot rides, there are bunch of little coffee shops where everything is free, and there is a room you can go and get a massage.
For all that, though, I agree with the commenter who said the place is a little dumpy. I'm surprised this place is worth $1.9 billion - I'm always a little surprised at how expensive New York real estate is.