In the financial year of 2023, Google Payment Ireland, an Irish arm of the web giant’s payment section, reported a reduction in revenue, falling from €30.6 million to €23.1 million, according to the most recent accounts.
It also documented an increase in spending from €39.1m to €42.7 million. The uptick in expenditures resulted in a gross loss of €19.5 million for 2023, a significant increase from the prior year’s loss of €8.4 million.
The company accredited part of the increase in costs to a rise in credit card charges in that duration, as recorded in the accounts. Despite this, the firm wrote off €18.2 million in accrued interest from various sources, which boosted its pre-tax profits to €3.5 million. This, in turn, elevated its overall profits to €9.7 million as the year concluded.
According to the accounts, a portion of the interest was generated from cash and cash equivalents found in the company’s balance sheet, as well as from interest earnings on intra-group receivables, which refers to the debts it owes to other parties within its corporate structure.
The company’s balance sheet showed €177.7 million in cash and an outstanding debt of €164.5 million owed to companies in the same group.
In 2019, Google received licensing as a payment institution in Ireland allowing it to offer financial services to both consumers and businesses throughout Ireland and Europe in line with the Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2).
The newly-acquired authorisation enabled the company to expand its offering from limited financial services through Google Pay digital wallet which was used prior to the license.
Google Payment Ireland serves as a conduit for payments for other companies under Google group, earning revenue internally. It also extends digital payment services to businesses through Google Play, the digital storefront for verified devices operating on Android system.
The company’s board ratified an extension to its merchant acquiring and payment processing services to Cloud Marketplace Clients in the European Economic Area in May of the same year.
In contrast to Google Payment’s earnings, Google Ireland, reported a total turnover of €72.6 billion by the end of 2022, with cumulative gains amounting to €7 billion.
During that period, Google’s Irish entity employed 4,832 individuals. The sum for employee compensation amounted to €936.6 million. This sum comprised of €647.5 million for payroll, €67.6 million for social welfare fees, €196 million for equity payments, and €25.5 million towards pensions.