november-2012

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theBusiness
Boyd Farrow rounds up the latest news from the business world across the network
googling berlin
Google has opened a high-profi le offi ce in Berlin, a city that is increasingly
becoming a magnet for technology fi rms. Twitter will soon follow with its
fi rst German offi ce in the city, providing a much-needed boost for the
microblogging site in a major market where it has proven less popular
than in much of Europe. And Mozilla, the free software community best
known for producing the Firefox web browser, is hiring 30 to 50 people
for its fi rst German offi ce, to be located in the Factory, the biggest
development in Berlin’s growing technology scene.
When completed in the fi rst quarter of 2013, the Factory will be part of a
fi ve-building campus that will be home to 6Wunderkinder, a start-up that
creates the popular productivity app Wunderlist, and social sound platform
SoundCloud, among other upstart companies. The area will also include
playgrounds to inspire creativity, including a gym and space for local techies
and innovators to host hackathons (tech-geek idea-swapping sessions).
Naturally, as this is Berlin, it will also include an art gallery and a beer
garden. It is not just the buzzy tech scene that is a motivating factor for
the major Silicon Valley operations to join the start-ups in opening offi ces
here. Berlin, of course, is the seat of government in a country where
concerns about internet privacy are greater than in many other Western
nations. Google’s spacious new digs on the swanky Unter den Linden
boulevard are quirkily fi tted out like the search-engine giant’s
Mountain View headquarters – a riot of bright colours. It will employ
25 people, mostly in the areas of sales, marketing and lobbying.
More headaches for UBS
It is not just the €1.8bn it has lost to a rogue trader, or that it is
said the bank plans to cut 17% of its European investment team
by the year-end that is giving UBS a headache. Switzerland’s
largest bank is under fire once more, this time for luring children
to open accounts with free Red Bull and a starting balance of
40CHF (€35).
At a branch in Basel, a 13-year-old was offered a Red Bull in
return for opening a savings account – with a Maestro card that
allows cash withdrawals from ATMs – according to a report on
the German-language website 20 Minuten. Child experts promptly
criticised such strategies, for taking unfair advantage of children
who are too young to make decisions about financial matters.
“Targeting children is very problematic,” Piet Westdijk told 20
Minuten. “Children can be swayed by such inducements and may
be led into a ‘debt trap’.” UBS spokesperson
Samuel Brandner said the promotion was
initiated by a single office in Basel. “We do not
prey on young people,” he told the website.
Rather, the bank places importance on
building relationships with young customers
through “all phases of life”.
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