• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 10:47
CEST 16:47
KST 23:47
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Code S RO12 Preview: Maru, Trigger, Rogue, NightMare12Code S RO12 Preview: Cure, sOs, Reynor, Solar15[ASL19] Ro8 Preview: Unyielding3Official Ladder Map Pool Update (April 28, 2025)17[ASL19] Ro8 Preview: Rejuvenation8
Community News
Maru & Rogue GSL RO12 interviews: "I think the pressure really got to [trigger]"3Code S Season 1 - Maru & Rogue advance to RO80Code S Season 1 - Cure & Reynor advance to RO84$1,250 WardiTV May [May 6th-May 18th]5Clem wins PiG Sty Festival #67
StarCraft 2
General
Maru & Rogue GSL RO12 interviews: "I think the pressure really got to [trigger]" Code S Season 1 - Maru & Rogue advance to RO8 Clem wins PiG Sty Festival #6 How does the number of casters affect your enjoyment of esports? Code S Season 1 - Cure & Reynor advance to RO8
Tourneys
Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament [GSL 2025] Code S:Season 1 - RO12 - Group B [GSL 2025] Code S:Season 1 - RO12 - Group A $1,250 WardiTV May [May 6th-May 18th] SOOPer7s Showmatches 2025
Strategy
[G] PvT Cheese: 13 Gate Proxy Robo Simple Questions Simple Answers
Custom Maps
[UMS] Zillion Zerglings
External Content
Mutation # 472 Dead Heat Mutation # 471 Delivery Guaranteed Mutation # 470 Certain Demise Mutation # 469 Frostbite
Brood War
General
Why is nobody talking about game 1 of SK vs Rush? BGH auto balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ BW General Discussion (UMS) Artosis vs Ogre Zerg [The Legend Continues] Recent recommended BW games
Tourneys
[USBL Spring 2025] Groups cast [ASL19] Ro8 Day 4 [BSL20] RO32 Group F - Saturday 20:00 CET [BSL20] RO32 Group E - Sunday 20:00 CET
Strategy
[G] How to get started on ladder as a new Z player Creating a full chart of Zerg builds [G] Mineral Boosting
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread What do you want from future RTS games? Nintendo Switch Thread Grand Theft Auto VI Battle Aces/David Kim RTS Megathread
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
LiquidLegends to reintegrate into TL.net
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers
Hearthstone
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia TL Mafia Community Thread TL Mafia Plays: Diplomacy TL Mafia: Generative Agents Showdown Survivor II: The Amazon
Community
General
Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread UK Politics Mega-thread Elon Musk's lies, propaganda, etc.
Fan Clubs
Serral Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! Anime Discussion Thread [Books] Wool by Hugh Howey Surprisingly good films/Hidden Gems
Sports
2024 - 2025 Football Thread NHL Playoffs 2024 NBA General Discussion Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread Cleaning My Mechanical Keyboard How to clean a TTe Thermaltake keyboard?
TL Community
BLinD-RawR 50K Post Watch Party The Automated Ban List TL.net Ten Commandments
Blogs
Why 5v5 Games Keep Us Hooked…
TrAiDoS
Info SLEgma_12
SLEgma_12
SECOND COMMING
XenOsky
WombaT’s Old BW Terran Theme …
WombaT
Heero Yuy & the Tax…
KrillinFromwales
BW PvZ Balance hypothetic…
Vasoline73
Test Entry for subject
xumakis
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 11296 users

Activision Blizzard pays $0 in taxes for 2018

Forum Index > General Forum
Post a Reply
1 2 3 Next All
UrsusRex
Profile Joined July 2012
United States85 Posts
April 15 2019 20:31 GMT
#1
According to the link below Activision Blizzard despite making 447 million in profit for 2018 did not pay any taxes on its earning. In fact the U.S. government gave 228 million dollars back to Activision under current U.S. tax laws for 2018. So if we total everything blizzard made 675 million dollars in the U.S. and has not paid any taxes.

Just thought this might be of interest to this particular forum.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/companies-pay-zero-taxes-trump-tax-law-132512117.html
"It is not sufficient that I succeed - all others must fail" - Genghis Khan
DieuCure
Profile Joined January 2017
France3713 Posts
April 15 2019 20:34 GMT
#2
They are good at optimizing.
TL+ Member
myRZeth
Profile Joined June 2011
Germany1047 Posts
April 15 2019 20:43 GMT
#3
That's plain disgusting. A company with no values.
DumbestThingEver
Profile Joined April 2019
4 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-04-15 20:49:28
April 15 2019 20:48 GMT
#4
The system needs an overhaul.
Nakajin
Profile Blog Joined September 2014
Canada8988 Posts
April 15 2019 20:50 GMT
#5
Seems legit
Writerhttp://i.imgur.com/9p6ufcB.jpg
Geo.Rion
Profile Blog Joined October 2008
7377 Posts
April 15 2019 20:51 GMT
#6
Fairly standard, not even an outstanding example of this trend
"Protoss is a joke" Liquid`Jinro Okt.1. 2011
DeepElemBlues
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
United States5079 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-04-15 21:13:07
April 15 2019 21:00 GMT
#7
No, they got back the money they paid.

I don't get why people don't understand this. Activision Blizzard paid taxes and got that amount back later. Not the same money, the government spent that money and hit some buttons on the US Treasury Money Machine and gave that money to Activision Blizzard.

When you file your tax return and the government gives you back X dollars 2 weeks to a month later it doesn't mean you didn't pay that money. If you hadn't paid it, the government would be giving you back precisely zero.
no place i'd rather be than the satellite of love
NinjaNight
Profile Joined January 2018
428 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-04-15 21:05:12
April 15 2019 21:03 GMT
#8
delete
-NegativeZero-
Profile Joined August 2011
United States2141 Posts
April 15 2019 21:17 GMT
#9
On April 16 2019 06:00 DeepElemBlues wrote:
No, they got back the money they paid.

I don't get why people don't understand this. Activision Blizzard paid taxes and got that amount back later. Not the same money, the government spent that money and hit some buttons on the US Treasury Money Machine and gave that money to Activision Blizzard.

When you file your tax return and the government gives you back X dollars 2 weeks to a month later it doesn't mean you didn't pay that money. If you hadn't paid it, the government would be giving you back precisely zero.

even then, if it's really that easy for the government to just print money and give it out, the last place it should be going is right back into the pockets of multi billion dollar corporations. the system is still broken.
vibeo gane,
Jathin
Profile Blog Joined February 2005
United States3505 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-04-15 21:29:21
April 15 2019 21:22 GMT
#10
--- Nuked ---
Boggyb
Profile Joined January 2017
2855 Posts
April 15 2019 21:32 GMT
#11
Taxing corporate profits don't make any sense. The money will be taxed when it reaches stockholders, so why tax it twice? Complaining about the tax rate on capitals gains is a lot more logical.
William paradise
Profile Blog Joined April 2014
1753 Posts
April 15 2019 21:33 GMT
#12
On April 16 2019 06:22 Jathin wrote:
So before this thread gets out of hand, there are a few things worth mentioning. First, the article is inaccurate. Activision Blizzard (ATVI) paid $64M in taxes in 2018, $878M in 2017, and $140M in 2016. Still, the $64M they paid in the last year is an effective tax rate of 3%.

Here's how it works: you start with the federal tax rate of 21% and you make adjustments off of it based on tax deductions. For example, research and development allowed them to shave 2% off that rate. I won't make an ethical judgment on which adjustments are unfair and which are fair (there's a little bit of both), but in the end they're all legal. After all adjustments, the effective rate is what you wind up with.

The thing to keep in mind is that the effective tax rate for any given year doesn't tell you the whole story. Sometimes tax adjustments get pulled forward/back to different years. For example, Blizzard's tax rates were:

2018: 3%
2017: 76%
2016: 13%
Average: 30.67%

So it's a bit sensationalist to look at any one year and cry foul. The other thing to keep in mind is that there's a difference between cash tax rate and paper-tax rate. Sometimes the tax adjustment is simply an adjustment to their balance sheet but no money exchanges hands. When the U.S. Tax Reform Act passed, there were huge adjustments on companies' balance sheets that caused huge swings in effective tax rates. So it's a bit disingenuous for reporters to use these numbers and act like corporate America is screwing Uncle Sam (there are other ways you're getting screwed, but this isn't one of them).

Long story short, taxes are complicated and while almost certainly this thread is going to be full of people screaming, "bloody murder," there's more to it than meets the eye.

Tax info is on footnote page F-53 in their 10-K: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/718877/000104746919000788/a2237840z10-k.htm

Just want to say thank you for this actually informing people and then they can research more if they want.
ok
Bagration
Profile Blog Joined October 2011
United States18282 Posts
April 15 2019 21:41 GMT
#13
On April 16 2019 05:43 myRZeth wrote:
That's plain disgusting. A company with no values.


It's a lot harder to make sub-optimal (short-term) financial decisions when you're a public company. Most of its owners are just looking for that sweet sweet financial return, so you got to take advantage of the tax code whenever you can.

Plus, most people just don't see cheating the govt. out of taxes as negatively as cheating individual people or a nonprofit
Team Slayers, Axiom-Acer and Vile forever
fishjie
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
United States1519 Posts
April 15 2019 22:09 GMT
#14
companies have a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders to reduce the taxes they pay. taxes suck, so minimizing them is fantastic. also not to mention, employees are already income taxed, and since theyre in cali, they get hit with state income tax as well. so dont worry the government is getting their hands on tax dollars one way or another
Defessus
Profile Joined July 2011
United States164 Posts
April 15 2019 23:59 GMT
#15
On April 16 2019 07:09 fishjie wrote:
dont worry the government is getting their hands on tax dollars one way or another



In the age of globalization, this is no longer true.
404AlphaSquad
Profile Joined October 2011
839 Posts
April 16 2019 02:48 GMT
#16
Most of ATVI s money is stored in the netherlands anyways to avoid taxation.
https://thecorrespondent.com/6942/bermuda-guess-again-turns-out-holland-is-the-tax-haven-of-choice-for-us-companies/417639737658-b85252de
aka Kalevi
JimmyJRaynor
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Canada16642 Posts
April 16 2019 03:09 GMT
#17
My customers really like keeping their money in Curacao. For amounts under $40 million, apparently, there is no place better.
Ray Kassar To David Crane : "you're no more important to Atari than the factory workers assembling the cartridges"
Archeon
Profile Joined May 2011
3252 Posts
April 16 2019 08:21 GMT
#18
On April 16 2019 06:22 Jathin wrote:
So before this thread gets out of hand, there are a few things worth mentioning. First, the article is inaccurate. Activision Blizzard (ATVI) paid $64M in taxes in 2018, $878M in 2017, and $140M in 2016. Still, the $64M they paid in the last year is an effective tax rate of 3%.

Here's how it works: you start with the federal tax rate of 21% and you make adjustments off of it based on tax deductions. For example, research and development allowed them to shave 2% off that rate. I won't make an ethical judgment on which adjustments are unfair and which are fair (there's a little bit of both), but in the end they're all legal. After all adjustments, the effective rate is what you wind up with.

The thing to keep in mind is that the effective tax rate for any given year doesn't tell you the whole story. Sometimes tax adjustments get pulled forward/back to different years. For example, Blizzard's tax rates were:

2018: 3%
2017: 76%
2016: 13%
Average: 30.67%

So it's a bit sensationalist to look at any one year and cry foul. The other thing to keep in mind is that there's a difference between cash tax rate and paper-tax rate. Sometimes the tax adjustment is simply an adjustment to their balance sheet but no money exchanges hands. When the U.S. Tax Reform Act passed, there were huge adjustments on companies' balance sheets that caused huge swings in effective tax rates. So it's a bit disingenuous for reporters to use these numbers and act like corporate America is screwing Uncle Sam (there are other ways you're getting screwed, but this isn't one of them).

Long story short, taxes are complicated and while almost certainly this thread is going to be full of people screaming, "bloody murder," there's more to it than meets the eye.

Tax info is on footnote page F-53 in their 10-K: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/718877/000104746919000788/a2237840z10-k.htm

Bloody murder!
Thanks for providing the info though 76% is as insane as 3%, wtf America. Why does it swing so much?

Also @people saying that they are paying income taxes/taxes on dividents already: Smaller companies pay corporate taxes too. Whether corporate income tax is meaningful or not is a different discussion, but as a law it should apply to all companies more or less equally, right? And if anything global players like Atvi should pay more and not less?
low gravity, yes-yes!
Drake
Profile Joined October 2010
Germany6146 Posts
April 16 2019 10:52 GMT
#19
On April 16 2019 05:51 Geo.Rion wrote:
Fairly standard, not even an outstanding example of this trend


doesnt change the fact its the disgusting tower of how bad capitalism can go when no one even tries to control it
Nb.Drake / CoL_Drake / Original Joined TL.net Tuesday, 15th of March 2005
GoTuNk!
Profile Blog Joined September 2006
Chile4591 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-04-16 14:14:37
April 16 2019 14:14 GMT
#20
On April 16 2019 17:21 Archeon wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 16 2019 06:22 Jathin wrote:
So before this thread gets out of hand, there are a few things worth mentioning. First, the article is inaccurate. Activision Blizzard (ATVI) paid $64M in taxes in 2018, $878M in 2017, and $140M in 2016. Still, the $64M they paid in the last year is an effective tax rate of 3%.

Here's how it works: you start with the federal tax rate of 21% and you make adjustments off of it based on tax deductions. For example, research and development allowed them to shave 2% off that rate. I won't make an ethical judgment on which adjustments are unfair and which are fair (there's a little bit of both), but in the end they're all legal. After all adjustments, the effective rate is what you wind up with.

The thing to keep in mind is that the effective tax rate for any given year doesn't tell you the whole story. Sometimes tax adjustments get pulled forward/back to different years. For example, Blizzard's tax rates were:

2018: 3%
2017: 76%
2016: 13%
Average: 30.67%

So it's a bit sensationalist to look at any one year and cry foul. The other thing to keep in mind is that there's a difference between cash tax rate and paper-tax rate. Sometimes the tax adjustment is simply an adjustment to their balance sheet but no money exchanges hands. When the U.S. Tax Reform Act passed, there were huge adjustments on companies' balance sheets that caused huge swings in effective tax rates. So it's a bit disingenuous for reporters to use these numbers and act like corporate America is screwing Uncle Sam (there are other ways you're getting screwed, but this isn't one of them).

Long story short, taxes are complicated and while almost certainly this thread is going to be full of people screaming, "bloody murder," there's more to it than meets the eye.

Tax info is on footnote page F-53 in their 10-K: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/718877/000104746919000788/a2237840z10-k.htm

Bloody murder!
Thanks for providing the info though 76% is as insane as 3%, wtf America. Why does it swing so much?

Also @people saying that they are paying income taxes/taxes on dividents already: Smaller companies pay corporate taxes too. Whether corporate income tax is meaningful or not is a different discussion, but as a law it should apply to all companies more or less equally, right? And if anything global players like Atvi should pay more and not less?


Big companies have large spreadsheets and have teams of people to find out how much they are worth and how much money they made. Imagine a company like blizzard, whose main asset is owning video games licenses. How much is each game worth? They could EASILY be making money on sales for example, but be losing value as a company because those games are getting old so sales will eventually stop and they have no real prospect of high sellers soon. It is really really complicated.

Everyone should be paying less taxes. People get to keep their money and spend it how they see fit, instead of allocating those resources to politicians and their (lack) of judgement.
1 2 3 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
14:00
May
uThermal519
IndyStarCraft 167
SteadfastSC71
Liquipedia
WardiTV Invitational
11:00
WardiTV May Group C+B
ComeBackTV 1263
WardiTV1248
Rex184
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
uThermal 519
Rex 184
IndyStarCraft 167
BRAT_OK 104
SteadfastSC 71
goblin 40
MindelVK 23
StarCraft: Brood War
Calm 8033
Hyuk 810
Stork 796
Zeus 563
Mini 495
ZerO 328
PianO 184
Nal_rA 183
TY 180
Barracks 161
[ Show more ]
soO 75
Hyun 72
Shinee 56
Aegong 37
SilentControl 29
Backho 29
JYJ29
scan(afreeca) 27
ajuk12(nOOB) 14
IntoTheRainbow 13
Sexy 7
eros_byul 1
GuemChi 0
Dota 2
Gorgc5959
qojqva1268
Counter-Strike
fl0m3424
flusha374
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King265
Chillindude36
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor450
Liquid`Hasu396
Other Games
singsing3261
tarik_tv2501
B2W.Neo1501
DeMusliM648
XcaliburYe639
mouzStarbuck294
Hui .276
XaKoH 249
Fuzer 236
SortOf147
ArmadaUGS110
KnowMe100
NarutO 10
Organizations
StarCraft: Brood War
UltimateBattle 2320
Other Games
gamesdonequick657
StarCraft 2
ESL.tv141
StarCraft: Brood War
Kim Chul Min (afreeca) 8
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 16 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• StrangeGG 63
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• iopq 6
• Michael_bg 3
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Nemesis3313
• Jankos1714
Other Games
• WagamamaTV285
Upcoming Events
Chat StarLeague
1h 13m
BSL Season 20
3h 13m
MadiNho vs dxtr13
Gypsy vs Dark
Circuito Brasileiro de…
4h 13m
Afreeca Starleague
19h 13m
BeSt vs Light
Wardi Open
20h 13m
Replay Cast
1d 9h
Replay Cast
1d 19h
Afreeca Starleague
1d 19h
Snow vs Soulkey
WardiTV Invitational
1d 20h
PiGosaur Monday
2 days
[ Show More ]
GSL Code S
2 days
ByuN vs Rogue
herO vs Cure
Replay Cast
3 days
GSL Code S
3 days
Classic vs Reynor
GuMiho vs Maru
The PondCast
3 days
RSL Revival
4 days
GSL Code S
4 days
Korean StarCraft League
5 days
RSL Revival
5 days
Online Event
6 days
Clem vs ShoWTimE
herO vs MaxPax
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
WardiTV Invitational
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

BSL Nation Wars Season 2
PiG Sty Festival 6.0
Calamity Stars S2

Ongoing

JPL Season 2
ASL Season 19
YSL S1
BSL 2v2 Season 3
BSL Season 20
China & Korea Top Challenge
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 2
CSLPRO Spring 2025
2025 GSL S1
Heroes 10 EU
PGL Astana 2025
Asian Champions League '25
ECL Season 49: Europe
BLAST Rivals Spring 2025
MESA Nomadic Masters
CCT Season 2 Global Finals
IEM Melbourne 2025
YaLLa Compass Qatar 2025
PGL Bucharest 2025
BLAST Open Spring 2025
ESL Pro League S21

Upcoming

NPSL S3
CSLPRO Last Chance 2025
CSLAN 2025
Esports World Cup 2025
HSC XXVII
Championship of Russia 2025
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2025
2025 GSL S2
DreamHack Dallas 2025
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 7
IEM Dallas 2025
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.