Hong Kong News

Nonpartisan, Noncommercial, unconstrained.
Wednesday, Mar 22, 2023

9 tech companies that have ditched San Francisco offices in 2022 are a warning sign for cities to rethink their reliance on big firms

9 tech companies that have ditched San Francisco offices in 2022 are a warning sign for cities to rethink their reliance on big firms

The tech exodus from San Francisco should be a warning to other cities that rely on tech companies to fill downtown office space.
San Francisco's once bustling downtown has become a ghost town as companies have left their offices. The city's office-vacancy rate grew by more than 4 percentage points from November 2021 to November 2022, to about 19%, according to Commercial Observer.

The exodus also is a double-edged sword that threatens San Francisco's financial health. A New York Times report published this month highlighted that local businesses like Mixt, a health-food restaurant, have struggled to maintain their business because high-income workers are no longer flocking downtown for their morning coffee or lunch salad.

Mayor London Breed has estimated that falling commercial property values could contribute to a $728 million budget gap over the next two fiscal years, Bloomberg reported.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff told Bloomberg that San Francisco needed "more diversity" in its economic and tax base, as well as more residential homes and cultural attractions downtown.

Meanwhile, layoffs have piled up at companies like Adobe, which reportedly laid off 100 employees from its marketing department in early December, and Airtable, which told TechCrunch on December 8 that it had cut 20% of its workforce. This suggests San Francisco's struggles with office vacancies may be far from over.

"The challenge in all of this is that we're kind of rebuilding to something that doesn't necessarily exist," Jeff Bellisario, the executive director of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, told Bloomberg. "What does the new San Francisco look like? And I'm not sure we've totally figured that out yet."
Here's a roundup of major office moves in San Francisco from 2022 that indicate how dire the situation is:

Snap: Snap Inc., the company that owns Snapchat, terminated the lease on its 33,000-square-foot office in October. The company is going through a restructuring, which has included laying off more than 1,200 employees.

Twitter: People close to Twitter told The Times this month that Twitter had stopped paying rent at its headquarters at 1355 Market St. as the company, now run by Elon Musk, seeks to cut costs to improve its profitability. The paper also reported in late November that Twitter's staff dwindled from around 7,500 full-time employees to less than 3,700 since Musk took over in late October. 

Meta: The Silicon Valley Business Journal reported in early December that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, was planning to part with its more than 430,000-square-foot office space at 181 Fremont St. despite having eight years left on its lease. Meta leases more than 1.2 million square feet of office space in the San Francisco Bay Area, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg told investors during its third-quarter earnings call that it planned to spend up to $3 billion over the next two years to reduce its total office footprint by buying out leases.

Block: The San Francisco Chronicle reported in June that Block, the payment-processing company owned by Jack Dorsey, the former CEO of Twitter, did not plan to renew its lease at the end of the year for a 470,000-square-foot office in the Mid-Market neighborhood as the company embraced working from home.

Salesforce: The San Francisco Business Times reported in July that the software behemoth Salesforce was making more than 412,000 square feet of office space in its headquarters available to sublease as the company embraced a strategy it called "Success from anywhere. Careers everywhere."

Airbnb: In September, the short-term-rental giant offered to sublease more than 150,000 square feet of office space in its three-story building in San Francisco's SoMa District, the San Francisco Business Times reported. The company also put more than 300,000 square feet of office space up for sublease in nearby Santa Clara, another Bay Area office hub.

Lyft: The San Francisco Business Times reported in August that the ride-hailing firm Lyft planned to let go of 250,000 square feet of office space at its Berry Street headquarters over the next year, reducing the company's total space leased in the city by more than half.

PayPal: The local news outlet ABC7 reported in April that the digital payments processor PayPal planned to close its Market Street office on June 3, leaving PayPal with no footprint in the city.

Slack: Slack, a corporate-communications company, subleased more than 200,000 square feet of office space at 45 Fremont St. in February as it moved toward a digital-first working environment, the San Francisco Business Times reported. The report said the company still held a lease at 500 Howard St., near Salesforce's headquarters.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Hong Kong News
Close
0:00
0:00
Credit Suisse's Scandalous History Resulted in an Obvious Collapse - It's time for regulators who fail to do their job to be held accountable and serve as an example by being behind bars.
Goldman Sachs cuts outlook for European bank debt over Credit Suisse crisis
Paris Rioting vs Macron anti democratic law
'Sexual Fantasy' Assignment At US School Outrages Parents
The US government has charged Chinese businessman Guo Wengui with leading a $1 billion fraud scheme that cheated thousands of followers out of their money.
Credit Suisse to borrow $54 billion from Swiss central bank
The BBC problem about China
Russian Hackers Preparing New Cyber Assault Against Ukraine
"Will Fly Wherever International Law Allows": US Warns Russia After Drone Incident
If this was in Tehran, Moscow or Hong Kong
Announcing GPT-4
TRUMP: "Standing before you today, I am the only candidate who can make this promise: I will prevent World War III."
China is calling out the US, UK, and Australia on their submarine pact, claiming they are going further down a dangerous road
A brief banking situation report
We are witnessing widespread bank fails and the president just gave a 5 min speech then walked off camera.
Donald Trump's asked by Tucker Carlson question on if the U.S. should support regime change in Russia?.
'No relation to the American SVB': India's SVC Bank acts to calm depositors amid brand name confusion.
Good news: The U.S. government is now guaranteeing all deposits, held by, Silicon Valley Bank, and the funds are available as of today
Silicon Valley Bank exec was Lehman Brothers CFO
In a potential last-ditch effort, HSBC is considering a rescue deal to save Silicon Valley Bank UK from insolvency
Saudi Arabia has announced a major breakthrough in diplomacy with Iran after two years of intense talks
Elon Musk Is Planning To Build A Town In Texas For His Employees
The Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse effect is spreading around the world, affecting startup companies across the globe
City officials in Berlin announced on Thursday that all swimmers at public pools will soon be allowed to swim topless
Fitness scam
Market Chaos as USDC Loses Peg to USD after $3.3 Billion Reserves Held by Silicon Valley Bank Closed.
A primitive judge in Australia sparked outrage when he told a breastfeeding woman to leave his courtroom for being “a distraction"
Barcelona is feeling the heat as they face corruption charges over payments to former vice-president of Spain's referees' committee, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira
Banking regulators close SVB, the largest bank failure since the financial crisis
Silicon Valley Bank: Struggles Threaten Tech Startup Ecosystem"
The unelected UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, an immigrant himself, defends new controversial crackdown on illegal migration
Old clip of Bill Gates saying Ukraine is a big, fat, corrupt sinkhole is going viral
Man’s penis amputated by mistake after he’s wrongly diagnosed with a tumour
2 universities in Hong Kong embrace use of ChatGPT, other AI tools
In a major snub to Downing Street's Silicon Valley dreams, UK chip giant Arm has dealt a serious blow to the government's economic strategy by opting for a US listing
Missing Chinese banker was working to set up Singapore family office
Hong Kong ditches Covid mask mandate after 945 days
Xi Jinping and His Wife Meet with Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni and Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk
How do stolen goods end up on Amazon, eBay and Facebook Marketplace?
It's the question on everyone's lips: could a four-day workweek be the future of employment?
Is Gold the Ultimate Safe Haven Asset in Times of Uncertainty?
Spain officials quit over trains that were too wide for tunnels...
Hello. Here is our news digest from London.
Corruption and Influence Buying Uncovered in International Mainstream Media: Investigation Reveals Growing Disinformation Mercenaries
When it comes to Tesla vs Lamborghini, an empty vessel makes more noise
European MP Clare Daly condemns US attack on Nord Stream
Former U.S. President Carter will spend his remaining time at home and receive hospice care instead of medication
North Korea test-fires an intercontinental ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan west of Hokkaido
US bombed Nord Stream gas pipelines, claims investigative journalist Seymour Hersh
US Joins 15 NATO Nations in Largest Space Data Collection Initiative in History
×