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by aclements18 4383 days ago
Not to take anything away from this young man (and Maker Studios) success here, but I thought it might be a good time to point out how YouTube math works. If his channel generates $4 million in ad revenue, Google/YouTube keeps about 45% and issues a check to Maker for the remaining $2.2m. Maker then takes another 10-30%.

Still a substantial sum in the end, but I felt the title may potentially be misleading.
2 comments
fekberg 4383 days ago
> The 24-year-old Mr. Kjellberg, who created PewDiePie five years ago, has parlayed his persona into a brand name that pulls in the equivalent of $4 million in ad sales a year, most of it pure profit.

If it's $4 million "mostly profit" I would take that as what he gets before taxes. If he pays his taxes in Sweden I think closer to 70% of that would disappear.

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quink 4383 days ago
What do you mean, 'disappear'? I'm pretty sure taxes charged on income doesn't just flow into government and then suddenly vanish without a trace.

> The 24-year-old Mr. Kjellberg, who created PewDiePie five years ago, has parlayed his persona into a brand name that pulls in the equivalent of $4 million in ad sales a year, most of it pure profit.

And I'm pretty sure the title isn't misleading - it's $4 million after YouTube's cut, which seems to check out, having cross-correlated other sources.

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fekberg 4383 days ago
'disappear' was probably a wrongly used word. It's money that will never be his, the income tax is paid to the government and they use it like any other tax money.

There are different levels taxation in Sweden if I recall correctly the upper level takes out 70% of the income, that is income earned after $200.000. So if I understand it correctly that would mean he needs to pay $2.660.000 in taxes on those $4 million.

I could be wrong though, but that is my understanding of it. If he's got a corporation where the money goes, that's an entirely different thing. My assumptions are it's a sole proprietorship or equal to that.

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quink 4383 days ago
Wikipedia says 57%. And apparently he lives in the UK these days.
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fekberg 4383 days ago
Right, so there's a 57% income tax. But if it's a sole proprietorship he also has to pay the "employer tax" or whatever it is called.

I know nothing about taxation in UK, but I guess it also depends on where he has his company (if any) registered. Either way, it's a lot of money even if a lot of it is tax.

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BESebastian 4383 days ago
Yeah, he's in Hove, East Sussex. The local rag did a thing about him when he moved here.
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skeletonjelly 4383 days ago
What does Maker do though? Advertising? Seems as though he does the post production on his own videos.
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