Going Up and Going Down

430 California (Chron)

S.F. tech company quadruples office space as it looks to hire hundreds

Tech firm Rippling has signed a 123,000-square-foot lease for a new San Francisco headquarters, quadrupling its office space as it plans to hire hundreds of new local workers.

Rippling, which creates workplace management software for human resources and finance, will move into nine floors at 430 California St. It now leases 30,000 square feet across two floors at 55 Second St.

The new lease is the city’s second-largest of the year, following Adyen’s 150,000-square-foot deal last month.

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Apple lays off hundreds of Bay Area workers in first mass cuts since the pandemic

Apple is laying off 614 employees in Santa Clara as part of its first mass job cuts in years, according to a state filing.

An attorney for the tech giant wrote that the layoffs are effective on May 27, in a letter last week to the California Employment Development Department.

The move, which spans eight offices in Santa Clara, follows reports that the company canceled a decade-long electric car project. The filing did not mention the project, but affected roles include “machine shop” managers, hardware engineers and product design engineers...

The layoffs affect 371 jobs at 3689 Kifer Road, 58 at 1705 Wyatt Drive, 52 at 3260 Scott Blvd., 49 at 3111 Coronado Drive, 35 at 3250 Scott Blvd., 23 at 2945 San Ysidro Way, 15 at 2975 San Ysidro Way, and 11 at 3000-3008 Kifer Road.

Among its mega-cap peers, Apple is known for being slow to hire and fire. The layoffs should not come as a surprise, since Apple discontinued its electric-car initiative last month. Nevertheless, Apple couldn't move 614 employees to other parts of the company, perhaps a sign of dimming growth prospects.

Meanwhile, Rippling's new lease is another counter to the validity of San Francisco's "doom loop" narrative. Furthermore, Rippling is not in the AI industry, where San Francisco's bounce-back seems to be coming from. The reports of the City's death appear to be premature, if not greatly exaggerated.