The Irish unit of LinkedIn has paid $1bn (€910m) in dividends to its LinkedIn and Microsoft parents, according to newly filed accounts.
The 2018 accounts of LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited record a dividend payment of $800m to Microsoft, which acquired LinkedIn in a $26.2bn deal completed in 2017. They show a further $200m dividend paid to the Irish unit’s immediate parent, Sunnyvale, California-based LinkedIn.
Pretax profits at LinkedIn Ireland fell to $84.8m from nearly $2.7bn in 2017, when the Irish unit booked an exceptional $2.6bn gain from its transfer of intellectual property to Microsoft as part of the acquisition agreement.
Revenues at the Irish unit of LinkedIn rose by 38pc to $2.17bn (€1.97bn). Its net assets declined by 10.6pc to $6.2bn.
It reported paying $16.1m (€14.6m) in Irish taxes in 2018 versus $127m the year before – a majority of that constituting tax deferred from previous years.
The number of employees at the Irish base on Wilton Place rose from 1,103 at the end of 2017 to 1,296 a year later. Most are employed in sales, marketing and distribution roles.
It says salaries and other benefits payments across the payroll totalled $182.3m in 2018 – equivalent to $140,683 (€127,820) per employee. That included share options worth nearly $18.6m (€16.9m).
In June, LinkedIn announced plans to hire 800 more employees in Dublin by next year, when the company is expected to expand into a new 150,000-square-foot (14,100 square metre) office being built at One Wilton Place, down the road from its current base next door to IDA Ireland’s headquarters.
The directors said in a note: “Turnover is expected to continue to grow throughout 2019 and the Company will continue to expand its operations in Ireland to support that growth.”
The accounts said LinkedIn Ireland generates revenue primarily through recruitment and job-search subscriptions, premium account subscriptions and in-platform advertisements.
The accounts said LinkedIn Ireland had sold additional IP for $55m in the past year but did not identify the buyer.
It noted two exceptional writeoffs: $4.5m for its investment in a liquidated Australian unit of LinkedIn, and a $15.7m impairment due to a subpar performance by a Brazilian subsidiary.
LinkedIn says it has more than 570 million users in more than 200 countries and territories, including 2 million in Ireland.
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