You have to consider more than just the employees that Google hired. They're also spending money in the region on a bunch of things besides salaries. One way

You have to consider more than just the employees that Google hired. They're also spending money in the region on a bunch of things besides salaries. One way to look at might be that if the facility remains open for 10 years, then that $1M/employee pays for salaries, and then they get all of the other economic benefits for "free". It sure sounds like a lot of money, but I wouldn't be surprised if it makes sense in some way. Especially since, as the sibling post points out, there would have been a large number of governments competing for it.