Facebook Australia Collected $1.74bn in Local Ad Revenue, Sent $1.51bn Offshore via Related-Party Reseller Payments

Facebook Australia collected $1.74 billion in gross advertising revenue in calendar 2025 and paid $1.51 billion of that sum to related overseas entities for the right to resell Meta's ad inventory, according to financial statements cited by The Age, Brisbane Times, and the Sydney Morning Herald. The structure left the Australian subsidiary with net revenue of approximately $223.9 million, a net profit of $61.2 million, and just 128 employees at year's end. The disclosures arrive as the Albanese government prepares draft legislation designed to push Meta, Google, and TikTok into commercial deals with Australian news publishers.

The Details

Facebook Australia's 2025 financial statements show the local subsidiary functioned as a reseller of Meta advertising inventory. The company collected $1.74 billion in gross revenue from a portion of Australian advertisers — up from $1.46 billion in 2024, according to The Age and Brisbane Times — then paid $1.51 billion back to related overseas entities as the cost of that reseller arrangement.

The offshore payment reduced the taxable Australian revenue base to approximately $223.9 million, according to The Age and Brisbane Times. Facebook Australia reported a net profit of $61.2 million against that base, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. The company then paid a $120 million dividend to its US parent while ending the year with a workforce of 128 people, the same reporting stated.

The primary ASIC filing was not directly retrieved by this publication. The figures here are drawn from concordant coverage across The Age, Brisbane Times, the Sydney Morning Herald, and The Australian, all of which cited the lodged financial statements. This article uses figures confirmed by at least two sources where cross-publication coverage allows.

The reseller structure is a disclosed, audited corporate arrangement and has not been declared unlawful. No accusation of wrongdoing has been made against Meta in Australian reporting on the filings. The arrangement is nonetheless material to the Australian policy debate because it means the bulk of advertising revenue generated from Australian businesses and consumers flows through related overseas entities before Australian taxable income is calculated.

The Age and Brisbane Times placed Facebook Australia's figures within a wider industry pattern, reporting that Google, Meta, and Amazon collectively routed more than $14 billion offshore from Australian customers in 2025 through similar reseller or related-party structures. That combined figure underlines the scale at which digital platforms extract commercial value from the Australian market before it touches Australian accounts.

Facebook Australia's gross revenue growth — from $1.46 billion in 2024 to $1.74 billion in 2025 — reflects the continued expansion of Meta's advertising business in Australia. The offshore reseller payment grew in step with that revenue, with the $1.51 billion figure representing roughly 87 percent of gross revenue routed outside Australian accounts.

Context

Australia's News Media Bargaining Code, passed in 2021, was the first legislation globally to require digital platforms to negotiate payment deals with local news publishers or face mandatory arbitration. Meta briefly blocked Australian news from its platforms during the negotiations before reaching commercial agreements with domestic outlets. The code established the principle that platforms generating substantial commercial value from Australian audiences carry financial obligations to the domestic media sector.

In December 2024, the Department of Infrastructure announced the News Bargaining Incentive as a successor mechanism. According to a Department of Infrastructure media release, the incentive was designed to encourage large digital platforms to enter or renew commercial deals with Australian news publishers through financial pressure rather than mandatory arbitration, giving platforms a financial incentive to negotiate rather than a legal obligation.

The Australian Financial Review reported on April 27 that the Albanese government is now preparing to release draft legislation for the News Media Bargaining Incentive. The timing places the offshore payment figures from Meta's 2025 filings directly inside a live policy debate about how much commercial value large platforms extract from Australia and what obligations they carry in return. The fresh financial data gives both policymakers and publishers specific figures to cite as the draft law moves toward parliamentary scrutiny.

What's Next

The Australian Financial Review reported the Albanese government intends to release draft News Media Bargaining Incentive legislation. The draft is expected to detail the financial incentive structure that would push platforms toward commercial agreements with Australian publishers. No specific release date was reported.

With Facebook Australia's 2025 financial statements now publicly available, the disclosed figures are likely to feature in any parliamentary examination of the draft legislation and in negotiations between platforms and news publishers over the scale of any payment arrangements that follow.