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A Brexit could make Google and Amazon think twice about their huge new London offices

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Amazon is due to move to a new office near Liverpool Street Station. Brookfield

US tech giants Google and Amazon could pull back on their UK operations now the UK is planning to leave the European Union.

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Both companies have pledged to build new UK headquarters in the near future that would house thousands of "Googlers" and "Amazonians" but the expensive projects may end up being reassessed. 

Indeed, cities like Paris and Berlin could end up being favoured by the US tech giants. Needless to say, such a decision would likely have a significant impact on the UK economy. 

Tech City UK CEO Gerard Grech told Business Insider last week that it's "hard to tell" whether companies like Google and Amazon will relocate their UK headquarters if the UK votes to leave the EU. 

Last month, Eileen Burbidge, partner at Passion Capital and chair of Tech City UK, said in a statement: "London is the biggest tech centre in Europe and attracts the brightest and best talent. Founders and investors fear that advantage would be lost if the UK leaves the EU. We don't really know what would happen and that uncertainty is dangerous. Would companies move their headquarters?"

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Silicon Valley currently sees the UK, and London in particular, as a gateway to policymakers in Brussels and the wider European economic market. But the UK's influence on European politics, along with its access to the 500 million people within Europe's so-called Digital Single Market, is likely to decline now its citizens have chosen to leave the EU. 

Unlike several other large tech companies, neither Google nor Amazon publicly stated before the referendum how a Brexit would impact their UK operations but it's likely that executives at these multinationals (and many others) are plotting what to do next.

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Matt Brittin, Google's European boss. Parliament

Companies in other industries have already said they'll relocate jobs from the UK. In the financial services sector, for example, HSBC, has said it could move 1,000 jobs to France

Google has been stalling on a huge mega-office in King's Cross for some time now, possibly because it was waiting to see which way the referendum goes.

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In 2013, Google said it would build a new UK HQ that would open in 2016, with capacity for around 5,000 Googlers. However, the initial plans were scrapped for being "too boring" and the company is yet to start building. In order to bridge the gap, it's taken a lease out on another large office over the road.

Amazon, on the other hand, is on schedule to open a new office in Shoreditch with enough room for 5,000 staff by the end of next year, according to a spokesman from the company. Whether all 5,000 staff will move in now remains to be seen. 

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Google has taken a lease on this building in King's Cross while it stalls on its HQ. BNP Paribas

On February 28, Axel Springer, Business Insider's parent company, joined 31 other media groups and filed a $2.3 billion suit against Google in Dutch court, alleging losses suffered due to the company's advertising practices.

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