One Direction paid more UK tax than Facebook
Financial reports filed by One Direction reveal the pop band paid more corporation tax in the U.K. than social media giant Facebook.
One Direction's company, 1D Media, paid £8.2 million ($12.48 million) in U.K. corporation tax in 2014, plus a further £2.2 million in foreign withholding tax, on profits of £34.9 million. In contrast, Facebook paid a grand total of £4,327 ($6,584) in corporation tax to the U.K., according to reports filed to Companies House, the U.K. registrar of companies.
The reason for the small payment by Facebook was because the company made a loss of £28 million for the financial year in the U.K., despite generating turnover of £104 million. The company also paid out £35 million to staff in the country as part of a share-based payment scheme.
Meanwhile, One Direction has had a dramatic 2015: band member Zayn Malik quit in March 2015 to start a solo career and they have produced a new album, "Made in the A.M.", which was released Friday.
The new album faces stiff competition from another teen heartthrob, Justin Bieber. Bieber's fifth studio album, "Purpose", has also been released today. The first single from the album, "What do you mean?", was released in August and was streamed 21 million times in its first five days. This broke a U.S. and world record for the number of streams in a debut week which was previously held by One Direction for the song "Drag Me Down."
One Direction is also lagging in the Twitter arms race. The band has just 25.7 million followers on the social platform, against Bieber's 69.6 million fans.
This story was originally reported by U.K. newspaper, The Guardian.
Follow Luke on Twitter: @LukeWGraham
More From CNBC
Top News and Analysis
Latest News Video
Personal Finance