By Tim Parsons-
David and Victoria Beckham have paid themselves £14.5m – or nearly £40,000 for every day of the year – following the success performance of the former footballer’s image rights sales.
The couple’s total dividends in 2019 were up £3.4m on the previous year, according to accounts filed at Companies House on Thursday. The 2019 accounts are the latest available also states that the couple also collected an additional £7m in interim dividend payments in 2020.
David Beckham Ventures Limited (DBVL), which manages his brand and partnerships with the likes of Adidas, Haig Club whisky and the Sands hotel group, reported a £600,000 increase in annual revenue to £16.2m.
Beckham was a renowned football player for the England national team, leading them as captain for many years. He played for numerous clubs including Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, Milan, LA Galaxy, Paris Saint-Germain and the England national team, for which he held the appearance record for an outfield player until 2016.
Victoria Beckham’s luxury fashion label reported a £2.5m increase in sales to £38.3m in 2019, but it continued to lose money. Annual pre-tax losses of Victoria Beckham Holdings Limited (VBHL) increased to £16.6m in 2019, up from a £12.5m loss in 2018.
Online sales were up more than 20% in the UK, 36% in Europe and 44% in Australia, despite the impact of the pandemic.
Both companies credited their success to their founders’ presence on social media. Victoria Beckham’s 50 million followers were said to have driven 15% of traffic to the company’s website and accounted for 10% of revenue.
David Beckham is the most followed person on social media in the UK, with 128 million followers world wide.