Facebook expansion to create 70 jobs
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Wednesday October 28 2009
FACEBOOK, the social networking site, said it would create 70 new jobs here next year as it expanded its operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
The new jobs in sales, engineering and finance will see the company double the number of people it employs in Ireland.
Facebook, which employs 750 worldwide, made the announcement at the official opening of the company's new office in Dublin. The company's website is accepting applications.
The privately-owned company, grappling with fast growth, will use the Irish office to attract more European advertisers for its social-networking site which has a million members in Ireland and more than 300 million users worldwide.
The company said last month that it was generating positive cash flow, reaching that goal ahead of its 2010 target.
Facebook, based in Palo Alto, California, makes money from advertising sales and an online payment system for gifts that users buy on the site.
Facebook was the fifth-most-visited website in the US in August.
The company is renting one floor in an otherwise empty building in the capital's Docklands area.
"There's plenty of room to do even more," joked Tanaiste Mary Coughlan at the opening.
The Tanaiste, who does not use Facebook herself, hailed Facebook's decision to expand here, saying it was "hugely important".
Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said in a video presentation played at the Dublin opening that the company had not really considered anywhere other than Ireland because of the number of qualified people here.
- Thomas Molloy
Irish Independent
