By admin - January, 26th 2017

Snap, the company that publishes Snapchat, will set up its international headquarters in the British capital. It follows the strategy of Google, Facebook and Apple

London is emerging as one of the world’s capitals of technology. In the night of Monday to Tuesday, the parent company of the messenger service Snapchat announced its intention to set up its headquarters for its activities outside the United States. London will thus house Snap, whose popularity of the application for smartphone has brought its valorization between 20 and 25 billion dollars. Before Snap, Apple, Facebook and Google announced a strengthening of their activities in London. Today, Snap has 75 employees in the Soho neighborhood. New offices will be set up to accommodate an undisclosed number of employees. London will consolidate its commercial operations in all countries where it does not have an office. And it is in London that the income linked to these countries will be declared. The Snapchat messaging service, in vogue with teenagers, has 150 million users, including 10 million in Britain. Snap is expected to go public in March.

London ecosystem

Why choose London, while taxation in Dublin or Amsterdam is a priori softer? “I think that the recent revelations of tax arrangements very favourable to certain multinationals have weighed, analyses Nicolas Capt, lawyer at the Bar of Geneva and specialized in technology. England is the first European market for Snap, the company wants to show white paw. And it is certain that the recent implantation in London of other giants of the tech has weighed “.It’s not only social media that is developing but also online gaming is also developing, the casino developers are making sure that they coming up with new feature games that will keep players entertained, casinoaus has the best online casinos where you can play quality games.

England is the first European market for Snap, the company wants to show white paw

In November 2016, Google announced the construction in London of a building with a capacity of 3,000 additional employees, for an investment of 1 billion pounds (1.2 billion francs). And a week later, Facebook announced the recruitment of 500 more people in the British capital, bringing its workforce, eventually, to 1500 employees. At the same time, IBM said it would increase the number of data centers in England from two to six.

Preserved Switzerland

Despite the Brexit and the uncertainties associated with permits granted to foreign labor, London remains attractive. And it also negotiates with companies. A year ago, the UK signed an agreement with Google, which agreed to pay 130 million pounds of tax arrears over 10 years. An expert had then denounced preferential treatment, with a tax rate of 5%.

Is Switzerland likely to suffer from London competition? “A priori, the framework conditions and infrastructures remain very good. But the next reform on business taxation (RIE III) must be accepted so that Switzerland remains competitive, “says Nicolas Capt.