Amazon, Expedia Bet on the UK by Hiring, Adding Office Space

As politicians and businesses wrestle with potential changes to UK border controls, one of the world's largest online travel booking companies has decided to double its headcount in London, and it's not alone in looking to expand.

Expedia will expand its UK office by 138,000 square feet, or to roughly twice the size of its existing space, and has signed a new lease that runs until 2030, according to a company statement. The company currently has about 1,400 staff at its London hub.

"We see a lot of opportunity in London given the continued growth of e-commerce and technology industries and the strong pool of talent in the city," said Johan Svanstrom, president of Expedia-owned Hotels.com.

Amazon.com is also hiring for its UK-based voice-recognition technology, cloud computing centers and Prime Air division, it said in a statement.

The moves come as the UK technology industry frets about the fallout from the nation's decision to leave the European Union by 2019, even as global tech companies continue to consider London the region's major hub.

A poll of 940 startup executives in the UK and other countries by the London unit of Silicon Valley Bank, a Santa Clara, California-based investment bank, found that following Brexit, one in 10 are considering moving their headquarters across the English Channel.

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