A beautiful payday of (EU)21m for U2
28 December 2008 By Gavin Daly
Bono and his fellow U2 members have enjoyed a beautiful payday, netting (EU)21 million from one of the band's main companies.
The "employees" of U2 Ltd - understood to be the four band members and manager Paul McGuinness - received wages of (EU)21.1 million for 2007, on top of (EU)18 million in 2006. Their 2008 take-home pay from the company, which licenses U2's intellectual property, is likely to be in line with those figures.
The higher pay in 2007 came despite a fall-off in operating profits at U2 Ltd to (EU)1.1 million, compared with (EU)5.4 million in 2006. The company accumulated profits of (EU)3.3 million and paid corporation tax of (EU)280,000 in Ireland last year.
None of the band members are on the board of U2 Ltd, whose three directors include Dutch lawyer Gerritte Spenke, who has written a book called Taxation in the Netherlands.
The other directors are Dutch accountant Jan Favie and Irish accountant Gaby Smith. The directors of the firm received remuneration of (EU)72,000 last year.
U2 are wrapping up the recording of their 12th studio album, No Line On The Horizon, which will be released on March 2. It was recorded in Morocco, Dublin, New York and London. |