Profits at U2’s management firm fall by $2.56m

U2 made news this week when it raised US$3 million in 36 hours for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. In a partnership with (RED) and Bank of America, the group offered their new single Invisible as a free download on iTunes. The response to the single – a million free downloads in the first hour, and three million by the next night – prompted Bank of America to exceed its initial pledge of $2 million.

But the news was not good for U2’s management company Principle Management. It lost money for the fourth year in a row.

As announced last November, long time manager Paul McGuiness stepped up to the role of chairman, while Madonna’s manager Guy Oseary took over the Irish superstars’ day-to-day business. Both Dublin-based Principle and Madonna’s New York City-based management Maverick have since been acquired by global company Live Nation for a reported $30 million.

New figures for the final full year that McGuiness was in control (which ended March 31, 2013) showed that Principle’s accumulated profits decreased by 86 percent, falling from $4.56 million to $2 million. According to the Irish Independent, Principle’s cash reserves also dropped by 86 percent, from $5.3 million to $757,000. In 2011, Principle registered a $2.43 million loss and $343,000 in 2010. The firm’s accumulated profits in 2011 was $7.43 million.

After Live Nation’s buyout, Principle was renamed Evergreen Ventures.

The firm owes creditors a total of US$11.2 million, much of it to McGuiness. The 2011 accounts showed that he was owed $12.8 million that March.