Google plans to open a research center in Bucharest, where it will recruit at least 50 employees, according to sources from the real estate market, local Ziarul Financiar reported. For its future research center, Google plans to rent 1,000 sqm of office space in the Unirii View tower in downtown Bucharest.

The news comes just days after Google announced it will take over smart wearable producer Fitbit, which also has a research center in Bucharest with 200 employees.

Google’s official turnover in Romania, reported by its local subsidiary Google Bucharest SRL, was RON 20.6 million (some EUR 4.4 mln) last year, 9% higher compared to 2017. The Google subsidiary in Bucharest had 15 employees last year.

A few years ago, the former country manager of Google Bucharest explained that the businesses reported by the local subsidiary does not include the revenues from online advertising, because the local subsidiary is only an entity that provides consultancy to Romanian companies. Operationally, everything is centralized in Ireland.

This is the case for other global IT groups such as Facebook, Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM. Google conducts nearly its entire business in Romania from Ireland, as it is the case for its operations in the UK, France, Israel or South Africa.

editor@romania-insider.com

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