The Dublin-based division of social media giant Twitter last year recorded revenues of €1.024bn - or €2.8m each day.
Accounts for Twitter International Company, the company's business outside of the Americas, show revenues enjoyed by the Dublin unit represent 35 per cent of Twitter’s global revenues of $3.46 billion last year.
Irish users and staff
The amount of revenues that the business generates from its Irish users is not disclosed. Singer Niall Horan has the highest number of any Irish person at 40.7 million followers with Conor McGregor and Rory McIlroy also enjoying millions or followers.
The social media firm has been based in Ireland since 2011 and the business here today is led by Sinead McSweeney. Numbers employed here last year increased from 173 to 196.
Staff costs increased by 26 per cent from €20 million to €25.2 million that included shared based payments of €3.66 million.
The three directors shared emoluments of €727,000 last year and also shared based gains of €1 million.
The Irish-based company last year recorded pre-tax losses of €239.69 million.
Intellectual Property deal
According to the accounts, the loss is connected with the costs associated with the Dublin based Twitter International Company completing a €7.9 billion purchase from a connected company for the Intellectual Property (IP) rights to develop and maintain Twitter operations in all countries excluding the Americas.
The main costs impacting on the Dublin company from the deal are the non-cash amortisation of intangible assets totalling €263.7 million for last year.
Since the start of this year, the Dublin company issued share capital totalling €8 billion to settle amounts owed to group undertakings from the IP deal.
The directors state that the company “has performed in line with expectations” and that they "are confident of the future long term success of the company”.
They say the increase in advertising revenues was primarily driven by increases in Daily Active Users (DAU’s), increases in ad pricing and the number of ads shown.
The company last year paid dividends of €53.8 million and received a corporate tax credit of €22.95 million resulting in a post tax loss of €216.7 million.
Future
On the company’s future developments, the directors stated that “we are committed to making Twitter safer and we are clarifying our policies, improving our enforcement and communicating more clearly.”
The directors’ report also confirms that the company is currently the subject of inquiries by the Irish Data Protection Commission with respect to its compliance with GDPR.
On the impact of Covid-19, the directors state that the pandemic is “expected to continue to disrupt and harm our business, financial condition and operating results”.
The subsidiaries of Twitter International Company include Twitter firms based in the UK, France, Holland, Germany, Spain, Australia, Italy, Mexico and Asia Pacific.
