WebProNews

Talk about adding insult to injury.  Even as rumors spread about another round of layoffs at Yahoo, the company has created a batch of ultra-enviable positions by opening a research center in Grenoble, France.

With 220 engineers on staff, the Grenoble facility now stands as Yahoo's biggest research center in Europe.  Semantic search, Yahoo Answers, and what Jemima Kiss calls "the weighty service management that keeps Yahoo's services running" should be the main things to benefit from its existence.

 Grenoble, France

As for why Yahoo opened the research center, financial incentives seem to have served as a big draw.  Kiss says that the French minister of economy, industry, and employment showed up at a ribbon-cutting ceremony and mentioned a huge tax credit for research-oriented endeavors.

Grenoble's also known for being something of a scientific center, with a number of universities dotted about.  And the area's reasonable temperatures, low population density, and picturesque mountains couldn't have hurt its chances.

Yahoo's human resources department should get ready for a lot of transfer requests.  Meanwhile, Bain's efficiency experts must be wishing they had a good excuse to spend time at the brand new research center.