FINANCE

Here's a motley collection of snippets all about the lads spending habits, sales figures, general money making facts  (well I'm clueless what else to do with all this information Dame Hilda mutters darkly....)  and NO!! I haven't been breaking into their bank accounts on line or riffling through their rubbish - This is all published info

INDIVIDUALLY LOADED
The members of Westlife are set to make $7.5 million each (or £5 million) each in the next 12 months. How? A new album, a new tour, and lots of singles. They revealed the windfall at Party in the Park. That is a lot of spending money, if you ask me. But, their weekly expenses are equally astounding, amounting to $60,000 per week (or £40,000). These expenses include the likes of supersonic Concorde flights and hotel rooms. Shane said, "We don't think money has changed us. We're anxious to stay down-to-earth. Money's not the most important thing." That's definitely good to hear. - August 2000

Abs admits he cost Westlife $30,000  8/02
Abs, formerly of Five, admits he cost Westlife $30,000 after trashing their hotel room from the outside. On the tour he decided to try and make it impossible for them to find their rooms in a posh hostelry. He says, "I unscrewed the numbers from the lads' hotel room doors. A week later, the hotel called Westlife's management with a bill $30,000. Apparently they were solid gold."

MONEY MATTERS
£14,000 is the amount Westlife will earn for each of their 64 sell-out concert in 2002.
£647,000 is the amount Westlife earned last year in their tour, record sales and merchandising deals
€1,000,000  was what Westlife earned in 2002

FINANCE ARTICLES
The Irish rich are just getting richer  2nd May 2003  ( The Nationalist )
The young guns are also storming this year's Rich List. Colin Farrell, the 27-year-old Dublin-born star of films such as The Recruit and Minority Report, with a fortune of 23 million, makes his first appearance on the Young Rich List at number 4, jointly, with boy band Westlife.

Tax exemption status of artists may be changed. -  Irish Examiner, October 2005
The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, John O'Donoghue, today indicated that the tax-free exemption for writers and performers was unlikely to be altered at the next budget. There has been growing expectation that high earners such as U2, Westlife, Roddy Doyle and Maeve Binchy could suffer financially if the 36-year-old exemption is abolished. However, Mr O'Donoghue told the Dail that the tax-free status for artists was ultimately beneficial for Ireland.

• Reuters - October 2005 'Irish artists plead to keep tax exemption scheme'

• Irish Mirror - 9th September 2005 ' 700k EACH; Westlife offered massive pay deal next tour'

• Sunday Times - July 2005 'Artists will leave if tax breaks go'

• Irish Independent - 2nd April 2005 'Rockers U2 are still rolling in it'

• Irish Sunday Times - February 2005 'Artists to have claimed tax  exemption to be outed'

• The Mirror 6th January 2005 'Top of the pop-fits - Irelands big showbiz money spinners '

• The Stage December 2004 'Millionaire musicians to lose Irish tax free status'

• The New Paper ( Singapore) February 2002

• The Mirror - 1st June 2003

• Yahoo News - 30th May 2000 'Westlife valued at 14 million'

How much money do Westlife make?
Enough to finance their Gucci ‘n’ Guinness ways for the next few decades, we reckon! The fab five, who were a collective fortune worth 20 million, pocketed 5 million in earning last year. They were placed 10th on the Top Earners’ list, after folks like Beatles (who top the list at 55 million), Sir Elton John (35 million) and the Spice Girls (5 million)! The minted charts champs spent their hard-earned cash on flashy BMWs (except for Mark, who has a Range Rover) and swanky bachelor pads in Ireland. Live it up, fellas!