Revenue at the online gaming firm operated by YouTubers Ryan and Scott Fitzsimons last year almost topped €1 million.
Accounts show that their company, Little Lizard Ltd, recorded revenues of €972,310 or €18,698 a week as it benefited from growing numbers turning to online gaming during Covid-19 lockdowns. That represented a 9 per cent increase on the revenues of €890,722 recorded in 2019.
The Fitzsimons turned 30 only in March. Over the past six years, the twins have received €7.8 million in pay from their company. The brothers took a 43 per cent pay cut last year, with directors’ pay reducing from €706,874 in 2019 to €402,839.
That wage cut contributed to Little Lizard recording a pre-tax profit of €103,115 in 2020, rebounding from a pre-tax loss of €63,679 in 2019. However, the duo cushioned the cut by taking out a dividend of €55,000 last year.
The twins paid themselves a total of €4.1 million over 2016 and 2015 – €2.2 million in 2016 and €1.8 million in 2015.
At the end of 2020, the Co Meath registered company was sitting on accumulated profits of €422,422.
The brothers uploaded their first Minecraft video in June 2012 and their Little Lizard Adventure channel now boasts 4.1 million subscribers. Over the past nine years, the channel has been viewed 2.63 billion times.
The brothers’ working lives involves playing modified versions of the Minecraft game with friendly and humorous voice-overs that started out as a hobby.
The Fitzsimons make most of their income from advertising on their channel and direct payments from YouTube based on the number of views of their videos.
In the Minecraft world they inhabit, Ryan’s character is known as Little Lizard while Scott is Tiny Turtle.
