£90m windfall for Facebook’s 119 London staff
FACEBOOK’S London-based employees received shares worth almost £90m in bonuses last year.
UK sales are estimated to account for around £223m of the social network’s turnover, however due to revenues being routed via Facebook’s Dublin office, the exact figure is unknown.
Facebook’s European chief Joanna Shields is believed to have pocketed more than £10m of shares, before leaving last October to lead the government’s Tech City initiative, and senior staff are thought to have earned the rest.
The bonus was comprised of 4.1m Facebook shares worth £21.33 each bringing the total paid to £87.5m.
The social network last year reported a loss of £2.4m on revenues of £34.6m for its UK subsidiary Facebook UK.
Facebook is currently under investigation by the US Internal Revenue Service and the Irish office of the revenue commissioners over its financial reports for the past four years.
Facebook declined to comment on the stock awards.