By Phoebe Williams
Facebook UK secured a £1bn leap in revenues last year before its business was hit by the global advertising market slowdown.
The subsidiary of social media giant Meta saw its 2022 accounts record a revenue jump from £1.9bn to just shy of £3bn, according to documents filed with Companies House.
Pre-tax profits hit £328m, up 43 per cent, and Facebook UK paid taxes in the UK of £127m last year, up from £30m.
The British arm of Meta contributes ad sales, as well as marketing and engineering support, to the US company, which also owns social media platform Instagram and messaging app WhatsApp.
Meta executive Derya Matras took responsibility for Facebook UK earlier this year, having joined the company in 2015, replacing Steve Hatch, who now leads polling firm YouGov.
The company has faced criticism for paying relatively low amounts of UK tax in the past.
“We follow international and local tax rules, ensuring that we pay all taxes required in each of the countries where we operate,” a Meta spokesman told the Sunday Times.
“Last year, our effective global tax rate was around 20 per cent, which is in line with the OECD average.”
Last year, Meta’s workforce jumped up by almost 2,000, reaching a new total of 7,053.
However, this number was recorded before the broad job cuts across the global business.
At the end of last year, Meta announced it would be cutting 11,000 roles globally amid a slowdown in the online advertising market.
Facebook UK’s total employee costs of £1.9bn included £43m of severance payments and £647m of share-based payouts. The accounts show that Facebook UK paid out a £400m dividend to its parent company,reported The Sunday Times.
A spokesman said: “Meta has significant investments in the UK and employs thousands of people across our three London sites, including our new office campus in King’s Cross.”
Meta, which has three sites in London,recently paid £149m to break a 20-year lease on a new office development near Regent’s Park amid the trend towards hybrid working.
Author: City A.M. Reporter
