Google Ireland's revenues jump 28% to €10.9 billion

THE DIGITAL economy is booming, according to results for Google’s Irish business, which show a 28 per cent increase in sales.

Turnover at Google Ireland Limited jumped to €10.9 billion last year, from €7.9 billion in 2009, and now accounts for roughly 40 per cent of the search engine giant’s global earnings. Google earnings are driven by online advertising revenue.

“Google Ireland continued to reap the rewards of the growth in the digital economy,” said John Herlihy, vice-president of operations at Google and the company’s senior executive in Dublin. “The shift of consumers and advertisers from offline continue unabated, which fuelled good growth in the company’s core business of search advertising,” the said.

A €20.7 million exceptional charge was taken relating to a writedown of its holding in Doubleclick International Holdings. As a result, the company showed a sharp fall in pretax profits to €1.7 million from €30.2 million in 2009.

Employment at the company rose to 1,513 during the year from 1,397 a year previously. At the end of last year, Google staff were pulling down an average salary of €78,668, up from €72,207 a year earlier. Continued growth since the end of 2010 has seen employment since rise to more than 2,000 people.

“We continue to grow our operations in Dublin to meet the demands of our advertisers and publishers,” said Mr Herlihy.

The accounts show Google paid €230.1 million for the three office buildings in Dublin’s Barrow Street in April and May of this year, a higher figure than had been estimated at the time.

Google Ireland is the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) headquarters for Google and provides technical, sales and operations support to customers in over 50 countries. The Irish subsidiary spent €29.15 million on research and development last year, a dramatic increase in the €18.8 million spent the previous year.

The accounts show that Google paid taxes of €15.3 million in Ireland in 2010, down from €18.3 million in 2009. The company again decided against paying a dividend to its ultimate US parent, Google Inc, and retained profits now stand at €38.87 million.