Facebook deal lands €565k for UCC staff

More than 160 University College Cork employees earned average payouts of €3,400 for contributions to a campus tech firm that sold to a Facebook subsidiary.

The value of the 2016 purchase of spinout company Infiniled by virtual technology company Oculus has also emerged as being well over €20m. UCC records show it got an initial payment of €1.659m for its 12.6% share in InfiniLED, which developed low-energy LED lighting at the university’s Tyndall National Institute research centre.

However, the 2015-2016 financial statements said a further $1.057m (€857,000 today) was held in escrow to be distributed this year, taking the amount going to shareholders from the sale to €20m. The takeover of debts, royalty payments and other costs bring the deal closer to €25m.