Pre-tax profits at the main Irish arm of jobs and professional networking social media platform LinkedIn last year decreased by 43.5% to $99.5m (€93.4m) due to higher costs.
New accounts show that LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company recorded the sharp downturn in pre-tax profits as revenues surged by $676.5m or 15% from $4.62 billion to $5.3 billion.
In a post balance sheet event, the firm paid out a dividend of $150m.
The directors state that revenue increased "due to increases across all lines of business".
The directors state that profits reduced due to a significant increase in the cost of sales and administrative expenses including higher recurring inter-company charges from group undertakings and higher payroll costs due to a 25% growth in headcount.
Numbers employed rose by 449 from 1,787 to 2,236 as staff costs increased from $294.2m to $322.54m.
Wages and salaries along with share based payments totalled $278 million showing that average pay to the 2,236 staff totalled $124,349 for the year.
The opening of One Wilton and part of LinkedIn's regional EMEA+LATAM headquarters in Dublin added to the firm's cost base last year with occupancy costs for One Wilton for 2022 amounting to $7.7m.
In another post balance sheet event, a note states that in April 2023, the Irish Data Protection Commission (IDPC) issued a draft decision alleging EU GDPR violation and proposed a fine.
The note states that LinkedIn's ultimate parent, Microsoft, has indemnified the company against all potential fines directed by the IDPC. The note states: "Accordingly, there is no financial impact on the company."
The Dublin company's shareholder funds last year decreased by $5.5 billion mainly as a result of a return of capital of $5.6 billion from the firm to its immediate parent firm, Microsoft Ireland Research UC.
The Irish based business of LinkedIn manages the company's operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
The business last year recorded post tax profits of $77.74m after paying a corporation tax charge of €21.75m.
The number of LinkedIn members last year increased at record levels rising by 90 million to 900 million across 200 countries in 26 languages.
The directors state: "This was achieved through continued investment on the LinkedIn platform and in marketing and advertising expenses."
The company's cost of sales last year increased by 20% from $2.74 billion to $3.28 billion and administrative expenses increased by 17% from $1.7 billion to $2 billion while "other operating expenses" totalled $17.75m.
The firm last year recorded an operating loss of $1.18m and the operating loss became a pre-tax profit of $99.5m due to $27m received in shares from group subsidiaries and net interest income of $73.69m.
The profit for last year takes account of non-cash depreciation and amortisation costs of $20.9m along with a foreign exchange loss of $21m.
At the end of December last, the business had shareholder funds of $669.24m.
The firm's cash funds last year increased from $8.9m to $9.2m.
The company has subsidiaries in Britain, Canada, India, France, Netherlands, Italy, Japan, Germany, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sweden, Brazil, Austria, Malaysia and Mexico.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
