Google Bucharest SRL, US tech giant Google’ local subsidiary, posted revenues of EUR 3.5 million last year, slightly down compared to 2014. The firm’s net profit was about EUR 195,000, according to official financial data reported at the Finance Ministry.

However, there’s a big discrepancy between the official turnover reported by the Romanian subsidiary and the actual business level that Google has in Romania.

Google had an estimated market share of about 48% of the local online advertising market in 2015, up from 45% in 2014, while the online advertising spending in Romania went up by 12% last year, to EUR 57 million, according to the Media Fact Book 2016 report. Thus, the company made at least EUR 27 million from digital advertising in Romania.

However, these revenues are not registered by Google Romania but by Google’s subsidiary in Dublin, Ireland. Google Romania only gets a fee for promoting the group’s activities and services on the local market.

Romania’s tax agency ANAF’s president Dragos Doros announced last month that the authorities were looking into the revenues Google, Facebook, and other online companies made in Romania but didn’t appear in the local financial reports.

editor@romania-insider.com