David Beckham takes £39m dividend as World Cup deals drive record DRJB profits
David Beckham took a $51m (£39m) dividend from DRJB Holdings after appearing in advertising around this summer’s Fifa World Cup, company accounts show. The payouts were linked to a year of partnerships and campaigns tied to the tournament in the US.
Beckham featured in about a dozen ad campaigns across the tournament, working with brands including Lenovo, McDonald’s, Bank of America, Verizon and Lay’s. Those World Cup arrangements helped DRJB Holdings report revenues of $110.5m last year, up from $92.3m in 2024, a rise described in the accounts as a surge by a fifth. Pre-tax profits increased to $65.7m, a 46% rise on 2024, with the business structured across three divisions, the largest being DB Ventures which covers partnerships such as Hugo Boss.
DRJB Holdings paid $51.1m to shareholders last year, compared with $53m the previous year. Beckham sold a 55% stake in his businesses in 2022 to Authentic Brands for £200m, a transaction the accounts say left him with a 45% share of last year’s total dividend.
The Companies House filing, which the accounts say will be published next week, shows a further $61.6m was paid in special dividends this year; the filing is reported to mean the 51-year-old was paid out about $51m. The company’s annual statements therefore record both the routine shareholder distributions and the additional special dividend payments.
Ahead of the World Cup the group secured a multi-year partnership with Bank of America under which Beckham became an ambassador for its global sports programme. The accounts also list product and media deals: menswear collections for Hugo Boss, an eponymous spectacles range for Safilo, a limited edition Predator football boot with Adidas, a Beckham & Friends Live show on Paramount+ tied to the UEFA Champions League, and a Stella Artois campaign featuring Theo James to mark the beer’s link to the second season of Netflix’s The Gentlemen.
DRJB Holdings is jointly owned by Authentic Brands Group and Footwork Productions, the latter controlled by Beckham. Corey Salter, chief executive of entertainment at Authentic Brands, said David Beckham was "one of the most powerful global brands in sport, lifestyle, entertainment and much more" and added: "What these results show is that behind the Beckham brand is a strong and highly effective team within Authentic, set up with the financial discipline and strong fundamentals to continue to grow profitably through 2026 and beyond." The group also comprises Seven Global, which handles licensing agreements with companies such as Adidas, and Studio 99, the production unit behind the four-part Netflix documentary Beckham (2023) and Victoria Beckham’s Netflix documentary released last year.
The accounts note Beckham’s outside investments, including the supplement specialist IM8, which he co-founded in 2024, and the honey-based fruit snack firm BeeUp. The Companies House filing due next week is expected to make the special dividend payments and the distribution totals publicly available.