The Irish company behind the Google Play Store saw turnover rise marginally to €2.9 billion in 2024, new accounts show.
Pretax profits at the Google company fell by 44 per cent from €25.5 million in 2023 to €14.1 million last year, according to accounts filed with the Companies Registration Office (CRO).
The company does not have any employees and paid €2.7 million in taxes in the period. No dividend was paid in the year.
Turnover was largely static year on year, increasing by €1.43 million from €2.89 billion in 2023, to €2.9 billion in 2024.
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The bulk of Google Commerce Ltd’s revenue comes from transactions on the Google Play Store application platform across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Customers can purchase games, applications, books and audiobooks on the store, with Google also taking a cut of sales made by developers through the store.
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Digital content and application revenues “in line with expectations”, with the marginal increase in revenue linked to increased customer spend on applications and the addition of new apps to the store during the year, Google said in its accounts.
The Irish-based company also records the retail sales of Google’s range of mobile phones, the Google Pixel range.
A €103 million decrease in the company’s costs of sales from €2,063 million to €1,960 million in 2024 was linked to lower inventory costs, but was outweighed by rising administrative expenses.
An increase in intercompany related expenses brought about a €107 million jump in administrative costs from €811 million to €918 million. Combined with the effects of interest rate movements, this led to decreased profits.
Google Commerce Ltd is a direct subsidiary of Google Europe, Middle East and Africa Unlimited Company – which is also established in Ireland – and is an indirect but wholly-owned subsidiary of US-based Google LLC.
Fellow group company Google Ireland Ltd saw revenues grow 12 per cent in 2024 and paid a €4.5 billion dividend to its parent company. Turnover rose from €77.3 billion to €86.6 billion in 2024.
Google Ireland was contacted for comment.
