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The actual amounts were 1500 MM SEK revenue (236 MM USD), and a 640 MM SEK (100 M USD) licensing fee/royalty to Notch, leaving that 580 MM (92 MM USD) profit. S
by Erwin 14y ago
The actual amounts were 1500 MM SEK revenue (236 MM USD), and a 640 MM SEK (100 M USD) licensing fee/royalty to Notch, leaving that 580 MM (92 MM USD) profit. So that's 92 million on top of 100 million in effectively dividends to Notch (by pulling out that amount, he must be one of the Swedes paying most tax!)
- ido 14y agoI'll bet that at that level there are ways of paying less than the standard ~40-50% (or whatever the maximum tax rate is in Sweden) individual income tax. E.g. I'll bet Bill Gates didn't personally pay (10s of) $billions in income taxes either.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- adventured 14y agoThat's correct. Gates would have been paying capital gains (rather than income taxes (except on his salary)), but has probably paid vast sums in taxes over time just due to the scale. He has shifted a lot of wealth from Microsoft stock holdings to his Cascade Investments. He holds roughly $20 billion in Microsoft, and $40 to $45 billion in Cascade. Gates would have paid a huge amount of capital gains taxes on that shift most likely (even if he managed to shield some or most of it; just 5% * $20 billion is still a billion in taxes). Just as a side reference, the dividend and capital gains rate in Sweden is about 30%.