fbpx

The Mercury News: Google v. Apple: While One Takes On The Housing Crisis, The Other Stands Back

The Mercury News, Oct. 27, 2019: Google v. Apple: While One Takes On The Housing Crisis, The Other Stands Back

They changed the world with their tech products, employ vast swaths of the Bay Area’s workforce and together own more than $16 billion in Silicon Valley property.

But Google and Apple — the valley’s two biggest tech property owners — differ wildly in a critical aspect: the way they use their resources in response to the region’s chronic housing crisis. A side-by-side comparison reveals that Google is taking a far more proactive approach to corporate citizenship than Apple, a disparity that illuminates the question many tech companies struggle with today: How much should they be expected to help the people and communities who fall victim to Silicon Valley’s success?

The answer will play a major role in shaping the future of the valley as residents grapple with sky-high demand for housing, soaring prices and painfully clogged roadways.

Google and Apple have similar portfolios — Google owned $7.5 billion and Apple owned just under $9 billion in taxable property in Santa Clara County as of the 2018 fiscal year, according to an analysis by a collaboration of local and national media, including this news organization, that has spent the last year studying land ownership patterns and their impact on the development of Silicon Valley. More of the collaboration’s work will be published and broadcast in coming days.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Scroll to Top