United Kingdom: Google UK
Overview
Google UK Limited is Google’s main UK local operating company. It is registered in England and Wales as a private limited company under company number 03977902. The company was incorporated on 20 April 2000. The company’s current registered office is 1 St. Giles High Street, London, United Kingdom, WC2H 8AG. The registered office was changed from Belgrave House, 76 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 9TQ, to 1 St. Giles High Street on 19 November 2024. Google UK Limited is classified under SIC 82990, other business support service activities not elsewhere classified.
Ownership and group status
Google UK Limited is part of the Alphabet/Google group. Companies House persons-with-significant-control records identify Alphabet Inc. as the active person with significant control, with ownership of 75% or more of shares and voting rights and the right to appoint or remove directors.
The company’s 2024 accounts state that its ultimate holding company is Alphabet Inc. and that its immediate holding company is Google International LLC.
Governance and management
The current statutory directors of Google UK Limited are Valentine Anthony Bohan and Kenneth Hohee Yi.
Valentine Anthony Bohan was appointed director on 15 November 2023. Kenneth Hohee Yi has been a director since 22 November 2013. Abogado Nominees Limited is the active company secretary, appointed on 1 June 2026. TJG Secretaries Limited resigned as secretary on the same date.
Business model and services
Google UK Limited operates as Google’s UK service, support, research, marketing and business-support company. The company’s 2024 accounts state that its principal activities are the provision of research and development services and the provision of marketing services to other group undertakings.
The company is therefore not the legal entity booking the full value of Google Search, YouTube, Google Ads, Google Cloud, Google Workspace or other Google platform revenues generated from UK users and customers. Its turnover is primarily intra-group service revenue from Alphabet/Google group arrangements.
This distinction is central to interpreting the company’s financial data. Google UK Limited is a large UK operating and employment entity, but its accounts do not represent Google’s full UK market revenue.
Operations and role in the UK
Google UK Limited supports Google’s UK operations across research and development, marketing, sales-support, technical, consulting and administrative functions. The company is connected to Google’s large London presence, including its King’s Cross and St. Giles offices, and to Google’s wider UK engineering and business operations.
The company’s accounts show a large UK workforce. In 2024, the average number of persons employed by Google UK Limited was 7,029, down from 7,422 in 2023. The 2024 employee split was 2,570 in sales and marketing, 3,418 in research and development, and 1,041 in management and administration.
Tax and public-policy context
Google UK Limited has long attracted public and media scrutiny because the UK company’s accounts do not capture the full value of Google’s UK-facing platform sales. This is connected to Google’s wider European structure, in which many customer contracts, advertising relationships and platform revenues are booked through other Google entities rather than through the UK company.
The company’s 2024 accounts show a current tax charge of £175.262m, an adjustment for prior-year current tax of -£0.371m, deferred-tax movements of -£28.622m, and total income-tax expense of £146.269m.
Source-currency financial data
Data in GBP. The source accounts report values in GBP thousands; the table below gives the full GBP amounts used for conversion.
| Year | Turnover / revenue | Profit for the financial year/period | EUR per GBP annual average rate |
| 2019 | £1,599,854,000 | £181,519,000 | 1.1405 |
| 2020 | £1,805,509,000 | £225,994,000 | 1.1250 |
| 2021 | £3,391,551,000 | £896,078,000 | 1.1633 |
| 2022 | £2,607,642,000 | £282,948,000 | 1.1732 |
| 2023 | £2,810,034,000 | £373,864,000 | 1.1500 |
| 2024 | £2,891,600,000 | £403,394,000 | 1.1815 |
Latest financial snapshot
FY2024
| Indicator | Value |
| Turnover | £2,891,600,000 |
| Turnover, converted | €3,416,425,400 |
| Administrative expenses | £2,327,994,000 |
| Operating profit | £563,606,000 |
| Interest payable and similar expenses | £29,613,000 |
| Other income and expenses | £15,670,000 |
| Profit before tax | £549,663,000 |
| Tax on profit | £146,269,000 |
| Profit for the financial year | £403,394,000 |
| Profit for the financial year, converted | €476,610,011 |
| Net assets / shareholder funds | £1,971,904,000 |
| Average employees | 7,029 |
The active GMFM financial table uses turnover/revenue as revenue and profit for the financial year/period as profit. The source figures are taken from Google UK Limited’s Companies House annual accounts. The accounts report values in GBP thousands, so the workbook multiplies the source values by 1,000 and converts them to euros using the ONS annual average sterling/euro exchange-rate series.The 2021 figure covers an 18-month period ended 31 December 2021, because Google UK Limited changed its financial year-end from June to December. The 2019 and 2020 figures relate to years ended 30 June. The 2022, 2023 and 2024 figures relate to calendar years ended 31 December.
