American tech giants increase their business in Romania

Ten of the biggest American technology companies made EUR 585 million revenues in Romania, in 2014, 25% higher than in the previous year. Their cumulated net profits increased by 14%, to EUR 37 million. The ten groups had almost 11,000 employees in Romania last year, up by 1,000 compared to 2013, according to an analysis by Romania-Insider.com, based on official financial data from the Finance Ministry. For most of these companies the revenues in Romania come from their service centers (call-centers) which serve the groups’ international customers. Oracle, IBM, Xerox, HP, and Dell have such centers in Romania. Others have software development centers in Romania, such as Intel, Amazon, and electronic games producer Electronic Arts. Three American companies made over EUR 100 million in revenues in Romania last year. Software producer Oracle is the biggest American tech company in Romania by turnover, with EUR 157 million in sales, in 2014, up by 31% compared to 2013. Oracle operates one of the biggest services center in Romania, with some 2,500 employees. IBM Romania had the biggest increase in revenues of all American tech companies in Romania. Its turnover went up by 58%, to EUR 144 million. IBM also had the biggest profit of the analyzed group, of EUR 12.4 million. The company added 300 employees to its Romanian operations, reaching over 1,800 people. HP was third last year. Its Global E-Business Operations Centre increased sales by 3%, to EUR 77 million, while HP Romania, its official local vendor, reduced its revenues by 4%, to EUR 51 million. The two HP entities had more than 3,300 employees in Romania, the same as in 2013. Microsoft Romania increased its business by 17% last year, to EUR 43.4 million, and its net profit went up by 83%, to EUR 4.5 million. Xerox had the highest profit increase, its two entities in Romania doubling their cumulated profits to EUR 3.9 million. The turnover went up by 21%, to almost EUR 40 million. The American tech companies probably make even more money in Romania, as the official figures reflect only the results of their local subsidiaries. In some cases, the local subsidiaries only bill support services, or marketing services, while the groups sell their services in Romania via international companies, like in Google’s case. Google Romania had a turnover of EUR 3.6 million last year, but in reality Google made some EUR 23 million from selling online advertising in Romania, according to market reports. These revenues went to Google’s subsidiary in Ireland. Cisco has a similar business model. Cisco Romania hasn’t released its financial figures for 2014. Top 50 American companies in Romania: how much money do they make? Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com