Pre-tax profits at the main Irish arm of jobs and professional networking social media platform LinkedIn last year surged more than four fold to $427m (€375m).
New accounts show that LinkedIn Ireland UC recorded the sharp increase in pre-tax profits from $99.5m to $427.1m as revenues surged by 68.5% or $3.6 billion from $5.3 billion to $8.93 billion.
The large rises in profits and revenues are somewhat skewed as the results are for the 18 month period to the end of June last compared to a prior 12 month period.
A spokesman for LinkedIn Ireland UC said today: “LinkedIn’s growth reflects more members, businesses and advertisers recognising the value of our platform, tools and professional community. In Ireland, where we now have over 3.5 million members, one of the most engaged bases globally”.
“Members are turning to LinkedIn in record numbers, for professional community support, job searches, skills development and staying informed,” he added.
In a post balance sheet event, the firm paid out a dividend of $400m and this followed a dividend payout of $150m in the year under review.
The directors state that revenue increased “due to increases across all lines of business”.
They state that “operating profit and profit for the financial period increased by $168m and $287m respectively, due to increase in revenue offset by significant increase in cost of sales and administrative expenses such as higher recurring intercompany charges from group undertakings and higher payroll costs”.
The company’s operating profit of $167.2m was boosted by net interest receivable of $122.69m, a reversal of impairment of financial assets of $56.14m and $81m in shares from group undertakings.
Dublin is central to LinkedIn’s global expansion and the company officially opened its new LinkedIn campus last month at Wilton Park.
The new campus is LinkedIn’s largest office outside the US and has 2,000+ employees in Ireland, representing 60% of LinkedIn’s EMEA workforce.
Numbers employed in the period under review declined by 101 from 2,236 to 2,135 as staff costs totalled $496.4m for the 18 months.
Wages and salaries totalled $382.8m for the 18 months and on a pro-rata basis the average salary for workers over a 12 month period was $119,559.
The directors state that “there has been a significant increase in both user engagement and user base during 2024”.
They state that the number of members on the LinkedIn platform has increased by approximately 100 million members to over 1 billion members at June 30th 2024.
They state that this “has been achieved through continued investment on the LinkedIn platform and in marketing and advertising expenses”.
Last October, the Irish Data Protection Commission (IDPC) imposed a €310m fine of LinkedIn Ireland UC after examining LinkedIn’s processing of personal data for the purposes of behavioural analysis and targeted advertising of users who have created LinkedIn profiles.
A note states that LinkedIn’s ultimate parent, Microsoft, has indemnified the company against all potential/probable fines directed by the IDPC in connection with this matter. The note states: “Accordingly, there is no financial impact on the company.”
“LinkedIn and Microsoft Corporation will consider its options to appeal,” it added.
Shareholder funds at the end of June last totalled $868.32m.
The Irish based business of LinkedIn manages the company’s operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
The accounts – signed off on February 10 – show that the business last year recorded post tax profits of $364.68m after incurring a corporation tax charge of $62.42m.
The profit for last year takes account of combined non-cash depreciation, impairment and amortisation costs of $111.27m along with a foreign exchange loss of $10.5m.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
