Report: Facebook's international HQ will be in Dublin
As it expands across the globe, social network Facebook will establish its official international headquarters in the Irish capital of Dublin, the Irish Times reported Thursday. The announcement was made by Mary Coughlan, Ireland's minister for enterprise, trade, and employment, and the Times hinted that the company is already recruiting to build up a local workforce.
The Dublin office will be the center of Facebook's operations for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, from ad sales to technical support.
"After exploring various locations throughout the region, we decided Ireland was the best place to establish our new headquarters," Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of the Palo Alto, Calif.-based Facebook, said in a statement to the Times. "The talent pool in Dublin is world-class, and recruiting local talent will help us better understand the needs of local users and the regional dynamics that, in turn, can give us better insight into what features matter most," she added.
The Irish government has been extremely friendly to technology companies, providing appealing tax incentives. Yahoo, Google, and eBay all have offices in Dublin as well, and Dell has chosen another Irish city, Limerick, for its European headquarters.
Dublin is slightly more affordable than that other European anglophone metropolis: Consulting firm Mercer named London the world's third most expensive city in this year's edition of its annual rankings; Dublin came in 16th.
It's also home to the iconic Guinness brewery. That might've sealed the deal for Facebook--which now has 308,000 users in Ireland, according to the Times.
Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline.
