Google has reportedly spent $820 million on properties in Silicon Valley

Google has reportedly bought 52 properties in Sunnyvale, California for a total of $820 million in an effort to expand its operations, according to a report from the Silicon Valley Business Journal.

The purchase is reportedly meant to “fill in gaps between multiple smaller campuses in Sunnyvale that Google has purchased or leased in recent years,” as the small city is located right next to Mountain View, where the search giant has its main headquarters.

A month ago, Google won exclusive rights to negotiate with the city of San Jose, which granted it the chance to buy 16 tracts of land, CNBC reported, and together with its real estate development partner Trammell Crow they have already spent $100 million (£76.4 million) buying parcels in the city.

The idea is to ultimately branch out there and have employees spread out from Mountain View — where Google is building a new main campus — to San Jose through Sunnyvale, as the 72,000 strong staff is reportedly going to get even bigger as the firm seeks to sustain its growth.