New York:
Internet powerhouse Google is muscling in on New York. The web search giant confirmed Wednesday that it had bought one of the most prestigious office buildings in Manhattan.
No price was given for the property at 111 Eighth Avenue, but the Los Angeles Times put the price at $2 billion.
The company said that more than 2,000 Googlers would work in the 18-storey building, which fills an entire city block and has some 280,000 square metres of office space. Google said that current tenants, who include Current Armani Exchange, Barnes & Noble, Nike, WebMD, Sprint, and Lifetime Networks, would stay in their offices.
A statement by one of the sellers, Taconic Investment Partners, said the deal "is reported to be the largest single-asset sales in the entire US in 2010 and the largest-ever acquisition by a tenant-user".