The company – Google’s history, though recent, is full of successes. In 1996, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, while still PhD students at Stanford University, developed a search tool on the Internet which they considered more efficient than the existing ones; that was the beginning of Google, which later, in 1998, became a private company. In August 2004, when it went public, the company raised US$ 1.67 billion, being worth by then US$ 23 billion. The huge success of the company is due to numerous factors such as its streamlined tools and the variety of services offered, many of them permitting other companies to achieve a substantial improvement in their own services. Simplicity is another of the company’s benchmarks. Its philosophy includes goals such as “our work should be challenging, and the challenge should be fun” or “our mission is to organize information in the world and make it accessible and useful worldwide”. Google’s search page is today one of the most accessed sites in Brazil and in the world. In 2006, the Financial Times elected Google as the most valuable trademark in the world, estimated at the time at US$ 66.434 billion.

The initial situation – Due to the expansion of its business in Brazil, Google, situated on the 5th floor of the Birmann 31 building, needed to double its space, from 1,300 to 2,600 sqm. Its wish to stay at the same address, one of the best in the city of São Paulo, was hampered by the lack of available space in the building, only one half of the 8th floor. With the real estate market booming, new leases would also mean a higher cost per square meter. Google’s International Real Estate team was familiar with the work of the Ocupantes team, and decided to choose it to perform this job.

The results obtained – The first step was to lease the available space quickly – half of the 8th floor – to ensure at least some room for expansion, even if insufficient. At the same time, Ocupantes contacted all the other companies in the building and found that SAB Company, on the 4th floor, intended to move. Aligning the interests of both companies, Ocupantes coordinated an assignment of the leases for each half of the 4th floor to Google. Google was thus able to occupy the entire adjoining floor, paying an already defined rent, and keep half of the 8th floor for future expansion.