Facebook Buys Former Sun Site for New Headquarters

Social networking giant Facebook announced Tuesday it's moving its headquarters into the old digs of server and storage maker Sun Microsystems in Menlo Park, Calif. With the relocation from its current Palo Alto, Calif., headquarters site, Facebook will snag 57 acres and nine buildings that offer roughly 1 million square feet.

The fast-growing company, which has 1,400 employees at its Palo Alto site and 2,000 worldwide, also purchased an adjacent 22-acre tract for future expansion. the move will be performed in phases with the first group expected in Menlo Park by July. The company, however, will continue to use its existing Palo Alto site through 2011 and possibly into next year.

For the city of Menlo Park, it's all good. The former Sun site has been sitting dormant since Oracle (ORCL) snapped up the hardware maker in a $7.4 billion deal that closed in January 2010.