Staff at a Dublin-based research and development subsidiary of Amazon that made a loss of €23 million last year were paid on average of just more than €124,000 each, latest accounts show.
When pension payments, share awards and social welfare costs were added in, the average cost for the 1,540 employees at Amazon Development Centre Ireland Ltd was €172,000.
The accounts show that the workers at the Irish entity were paid €191.2 million between them in wages and salaries in 2024.
In addition, social welfare costs amounted to €22.3 million, while pension payments totalled just under €5 million and share-based costs amounted to €47.2 million.
RM Block
Directors’ emoluments were just more than €1.9 million, 6.5 per cent higher than a year earlier.
In 2023, the Amazon subsidiary paid its then 1,581 staff €195.3 million in wages and salaries, giving an average of just more than €123,600. Total payroll costs amounted to €279.8 million for the year.
The share awards over the past two years were primarily in the form of restricted stock units (RSU). These represent the right to receive shares in Amazon on a one-for-one basis upon vesting. Typically, employees have to serve between two and five years before the shares vest.
Unvested stock for staff who don’t fulfil the terms of service is forfeited.
The Amazon company is focused on contract research and development for other entities within the Amazon and Amazon Web Services family. The accounts note that it is “dependent on the continued success of the Amazon.com group of companies”.
The filing shows its losses narrowed to just under €23 million in 2024 from €33.4 million a year earlier, while turnover declined by 5 per cent to €250.7 million.
Its administrative expenses declined in 2024 to €275 million from €297 million a year earlier.
The tech giant’s subsidiary closed the year with accumulated losses of just under €100 million, up from €77 million at the end of 2023.
Its net assets rose to €120 million last year, up from €95 million at the end of the prior financial period. No dividend was paid last year.
A going-concern note in the accounts states that Amazon.com has “sufficient financial resources” to support the Irish company.
In spite of its losses, the accounts show the company paid Irish corporation tax of just more than €1 million in 2024, related to an adjustment in relation to share-based payments.
Its immediate parent company is listed as Amazon.com Sales Inc, based in Seattle.
Amazon did not comment on the accounts when contacted.
Amazon has been operating in Ireland for more than 20 years. In total, Amazon employs 6,500 people in Cork, Dublin and Drogheda across data centres, Amazon Web Services and its fulfilment centre in Dublin.
Among the roles at these operations are data engineers, operations management, and finance.
Revenues at the company’s web services arm, Amazon Data Services Ireland (ADSIL) Ltd, rose by €1 billion to €7.09 billion last year, while its pretax profit increased 23 per cent from €15.16 million to €22.96 million.
Accounts filed recently for ADSIL show its pretax profit increased by 23 per cent to €22.96 million on the back of the soaring revenues in the 12 months to the end of December last.
