Facebook’s parent company Meta and the tech giant Microsoft are vacating their respective office buildings in the US capital Washington and in Seattle. Reportedly the move came in the latest sign of change coming in the tech industry and softness in the office market.
Facebook on Friday confirmed subleasing its offices at the six-story Arbor Block 333 in downtown Seattle and in the 11-story Block 6 of the Spring District in Bellevue.
Based on the reports, The Menlo Park, California-based social media giant said it is also reviewing leases for other Seattle-area office buildings. A soft market is a phase in the economic cycle characterized by more sellers than buyers and low prices.
On the other hand, The Seattle Times reported that Redmond-based Microsoft confirmed that it won’t renew the lease at the 26-story City Center Plaza in Bellevue when that ends in June 2024.
It is pertinent to mention here that the announcement comes as the popularity of remote working grows amidst the tech slowdown that has been caused due to massive layoffs in the industry that has ensured a cut in demand for offices in the US cities.
Both Meta and Microsoft have embraced remote work while paring back their workforces as the tech sector swoons, according to the daily newspaper. In November, Meta announced layoffs of 726 Seattle-area workers.
Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton while interacting with the American media said that the leasing decisions were primarily driven by the company's move toward remote, or "distributed," work. But he acknowledged that "given the economic climate," Meta was also "trying to be financially prudent".
A Microsoft spokesperson characterized its decision about City Center Plaza as part of an ongoing evaluation of the firm's "real estate portfolio to ensure we provide an exceptional place to work and create greater collaboration and community for our employees."
The struggle around vacating offices is most visible in downtown Seattle, the total efficacy is said to be at 25 percent. Based on the reports in the US media, even nonvacant offices are often half empty owing to the remote work strategy.
As per the cellphone location data from Placer.ai posted in the reports of the Downtown Seattle Association, since the summer of 2022, downtown Seattle has only around 40 percent of the workers present before the pandemic.