Internet Business Takes Up Over 20% of Asia's Office Space  

TEMPO.CO, Hong Kong – A research by property consultant Cushman & Wakefield shows that global internet companies are the top tenants of office buildings in Asia in the second quarter of 2014. Internet titans Yahoo!, Google, and LinkedIn occupy 102,200 square feet, or 22 percent of the total office space available.

The research said that a lot of major Internet companies opted to base in Japan, China, and Singapore. These companies also rented office spaces left vacant by financial firms that went bankrupt after they were hit by global crisis. In the previous quarter, financial companies occupied 14 percent of office space in the Asian region.

Cushman & Wakefield Asia director Sigrid Zialcita said that, for the property business, internet firms have the biggest potential for profits. The rapid growth of e-commerce and social media in Asia is one of the driving factors of internet business, in addition to the continent's growing middle class and users of mobile communications devices.

"The consumers base in Asia will continue to grow until at least the next 10 years," Zialcita said as quoted by the Wall Street Journal. 

FERY FIRMANSYAH