Revenues surge at Irish arm of Meta to €69.75bn

Revenue increase due to growth in advertising revenue across Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger

Head of Meta Ireland Anne O’Leary.  Picture: Naoise Culhane

Revenues at the Dublin-based international headquarters for the operator of Facebook and Instagram last year surged by 20%, or €11.69bn, to €69.75bn in a record performance for the business.

New accounts show that on the back of the average weekly revenues of €1.34bn for 2023, pre-tax profits at the Irish arm of social media giant Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd increased by 6%, from €1.75bn to €1.85bn.

The revenues recorded by the Dublin based unit account for 54.5% of the US-headquartered Meta’s global revenues of $134.9bn (€128bn) for 2023.

The directors for the Irish arm say the company "has continued to grow during the year. Substantially all revenue is generated from advertising.”

They say the revenue increase “was attributable to growth in advertising revenue from third-party customers generated by displaying ad products on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and third-party mobile applications”.

Last year, Meta Platforms Ireland — led by Cork native, Ms Anne O’Leary after her formal appointment in June 2024 — officially opened its new international headquarters in Ballsbridge.

The firm recorded a post-tax profit of €1.56bn for 2023 after incurring a corporation tax charge of €288.48m.

The accounts disclose that during the year, the company paid a dividend of €900m to parent company Facebook International Operations Ltd.

The €900m dividend was down sharply on the €3.7bn dividend paid out in 2022.

In a post-balance sheet event, the directors disclose that in March 2024, they approved a further dividend of €600m to Facebook International Operations Ltd.

Numbers employed by Meta Platforms Ireland last year reduced by 491, or 18%, from 2,662 to 2,171 and the directors say it “recorded severance expenses for impacted employees of €40.4m”.

The €40.4m severance fund works out at an average redundancy payout of €82,281 for the 491 ex-employees.

The 2023 severance payout follows €22.5m paid out under the same heading in 2022.

In 2022, Meta axed about 350 roles at its Irish base and in May of last year Meta announced another round of jobs losses, where up to 490 jobs were expected to be cut here.

The directors say the reduction in headcount “formed part of measures to pursue greater efficiency and to realign business and strategic priorities”.

Staff costs increased marginally from €518.48m to €524.8m that included the €40.4m severance payout.

The €524.8m in staff costs included €105.72m in share-based payments.

A breakdown of the roles show 767 employed in operations, 587 in administration, 486 in sales and marketing and 331 in engineering.

Pay to directors increased by €800,000, or 42%, from €1.9m to €2.7m, along with €6.6m under long-0term incentive schemes benefits.

A note states other director payments in connection with retirement from office amounted to €800,000.

Profits were hit at the company after Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd set aside an additional €143.7m provision for potential regulatory fines — which was down sharply on the additional €1.43bn set aside in 2022.

The firm had €4.17bn set aside to deal with potential regulatory fines at year end, after €613.5m was utilised during the year.

A note attached to the accounts says in 2024, the European Commission has opened formal proceedings against the company to assess Facebook and Instagram’s compliance with various articles of the EU Digital Services Act.

Furthermore, the Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Network sent a letter to the company regarding compliance with EU consumer law and the notes says “it is too early to determine with any reasonable accuracy impacts to the company for these matters”.

The company’s research and development costs last year decreased from €196m to €155.43m. The profit also takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €65.4m.

The company’s operating profits last year increased by 44%, from €1.3bn to €1.88bn, after administrative expenses of €65bn and cost of sales of €2.79bn are taken into account.

Net interest payments of €33.8m reduced profits to a pre-tax profit of €1.85bn.

The dividend payout offset by the post-tax profits last year resulted in accumulated profits increasing from €267m to €891m.

Shareholder funds totalled €1.5bn. The company's cash funds more than doubled from €2.3bn to €5.89bn.