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- Netflix is tripling its total office space in London to around 100,000 square feet, a source close to the deal told Business Insider.
- Some staff will move to a new office in the city’s West End, the source said, but the company will also retain one of its two existing London offices.
- The new office space won’t be ready until 2022 at the earliest, according to the source.
- The streaming giant plans to create jobs in its business operations and original productions, building off the success of its UK productions such as “The Crown,” “Sex Education,” “Rebecca,” and “Too Hot To Handle.”
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Netflix plans to triple its London office capacity as it expands its UK operations.
The streaming giant will move to an 87,000 square-foot site in the city’s West End, a source close to the deal told Business Insider.
Netflix already rents space in two buildings in London totaling around 30,000 square feet. One of these will be retained, meaning the company will have around 100,000 square feet of office space in total.
But Netflix will refurbish the new West End office and doesn’t plan to move employees in until at least 2022.
The company also plans to "invest heavily in the British creative economy," the source told Business Insider. Netflix will create jobs in its business operations as well as cast, crew, and extras involved in its original productions, according to the source.
The streaming giant currently has 269 employees in the UK, where it filmed more than 50 productions last year. Some have had international success, like "The Crown," "Sex Education," "After Life," "Rebecca," and "Too Hot To Handle."
Netflix is one of the major tech players to boom during lockdown. Nearly as many subscribers signed up to the streaming service in the first half of 2020 as did in the whole of 2019, including more than 10 million between April and June alone.
In the three months to June 30, it recorded an operating profit of $1.36 billion – a 42% jump from the previous quarter, and nearly double what it recorded in the same period last year.
But in its quarterly statement, Netflix warned that the number of new subscriptions may dip in the second half after so many new members joined in the year up to June. The company is also facing increasing competition from streaming services by WarnerMedia, Disney, NBCUniversal, Apple, and Amazon.
"As part of our ongoing commitment to the UK, we are excited to expand our operations in London," a Netflix spokesperson told Business Insider. "It will ensure that we can better serve our members and the local creative community, including investing in stories ... that are made in the UK and watched by the world."