Grand bargain with LinkedIn for Google's dream campus

Google and LinkedIn have struck a “grand bargain” that will see the Mountain View neighbors swap a few million square feet of real estate without any money changing hands. Silicon Valley Business Journal reported the deal, which should help alleviate both companies' space problems and give Google room to develop its futuristic "canopy" campus.

The deal paves the way for Google to pursue its dream campus that would include buildings with sweeping translucent canopies, glass walls and flexible, movable elements that the company could tailor to different projects.

As part of the bargain, LinkedIn gets two large Google properties in Mountain View, and one in Sunnyvale, as part of an effort to consolidate its Silicon Valley staff in Sunnyvale.

Google will receive all of LinkedIn's existing Mountain View territory, which consists of LinkedIn's 370,000-square-feet headquarters and almost eight acres of land LinkedIn had planned on turning into office space.

"We're excited to bring our 3,700 South Bay-based employees together into a single walkable location to continue to foster our culture of collaboration," a LinkedIn spokeswoman said.

Google owns a huge chunk of land in Mountain View with many office buildings, but the buildings have all been hand-me-downs. In February 2015, Google announced plans to renovate its campus with an ambitious design featuring a large membrane covering configurable activity space. But after the search giant presented the plan to the city, LinkedIn, which also resides in Mountain View, stood in the way. The city council awarded the social network much of the sought-after land.

With the real estate swap, those construction rights go to Google, so the company now has all the space it asked for.