Amazon to Open New UK Office

Amazon is set to open a new office in Manchester and will hire more than 1,000 new staffers to work on research and development in the UK.

The US tech titan said on Thursday that it would hire additional roles in Manchester, Edinburgh and Cambridge as part of its bolstered investment in Britain.

Its new Manchester base alone will lead to the creation of 600 jobs, the company said, indicating a serious investment in England’s North. It will also take on more than 250 high-skilled staffers in its Edinburgh development center and 180 in its Cambridge facility.

“With the UK taking a leading role in our global innovation, we are delighted to announce plans to create capacity for over 1,000 new highly-skilled roles across the country,” Amazon’s UK Country Manager Doug Gurr said in a published official statement on Thursday. “These are Silicon Valley jobs in Britain, and further cement our long term commitment to the UK.”

The UK is a huge international market for the e-commerce firm, which made pre-tax profits of 72.4 million pounds in the country last year, according to a filing with UK business registrar Companies House, a huge increase from the 24.3 million pounds it made in 2016.

This disclosure resulted to criticisms, on the other hand, because of the discovery that the firm whipped out 4.6 million pounds in corporation tax in 2017, far lower than the 7.4 million it had paid out during the previous year.

Amazon argues that this is because the firm grants full-time employees share awards, which it says decreases its tax liability. Philip Hammond, who is Britain’s Finance Minister, has floated the idea of a tax on digital platforms to level the playing field for traditional retailers.

The news comes after a report earlier this year that said the corporation was mulling the creation of its own insurance price comparison website in the UK, denoting both further push into the financial services and a challenge to the competitive domestic price comparison market.

It also arrives amid contentious talks between the UK and the European Union as the country attempts to sever ties with the group.

“Ensuring that the world’s best and brightest companies continue to invest and innovate in the UK is at the heart of our global Britain agenda,” said UK International Trade Secretary Liam Fox in a statement. “Amazon’s decision to create hundreds of highly-skilled jobs in Manchester, Edinburgh and Cambridge is an enormous vote of confidence in the UK and a signal to the world that the UK is very much open for business.”

Amazon reported record profits in the second quarter, reporting net income of $2.5 billion. The firm is scheduled to reveal its third-quarter results next Thursday.

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