Markus Persson net worth: Markus "Notch" Persson is a Swedish video game developer who has a net worth of $1.3 billion dollars. Markus Persson was born in Stockholm, Sweden on June 1, 1979. Persson began programming while still in elementary school, using a Commodore computer. He began developing his own games soon after, and created his first complete game when he was just 8 years old. After finishing school, he worked for King.com from 2005-2009. In 2010, he formed Mojang, a game developing company with Carl Manneh and Jakob Porser. The first release from Mojang was "Minecraft", a sandbox, open world game that debuted to widespread acclaim and popularity. Sales of the simple-looking game were slow at first but eventually exploded around the world. Today the game has attracted over 100 million players and generated nearly $300 million in revenue in 2013 alone. In addition to "Minecraft", he has worked on the photo-sharing service, "Jalbum", as well as the games, "Scrolls" and "0x10c". He has also entered a number of successful games in the Ludum Dare 48-hour game competition. When not programming, he also records and releases electronic music under the name, Markus Alexei.
In return for allowing Mojang to market, control and develop Minecraft, Persson is paid an annual royalty of 42% of the company's annual profits. According to Swedish corporate disclosures, in 2011, Mojang generated revenues of $133 million. This resulted in Notch earning a royalty of $56 million. In 2012, Mojang generated revenues of $220 million. This resulted in Notch earning a royalty of $101 million. In 2013, Mojang generated revenues of $309 million. This resulted in Notch earning a royalty of $130 million. If you total it all up, Notch has earned $287 million in royalties in the last three years alone.
On September 15, 2014, Microsoft confirmed that it was buying Minecraft from Mojang for $2.5 billion. How much will Notch make from the acquisition? According to Swedish tax documents, Persson controls 71% of Mojang through his companies Notch Development and Notch Enterprises. 71% of the $2.5 billion purchase price is $1.7 billion before taxes. In Sweden, Notch will owe 56% on the first $5.66 Swedish Kroner ($800,000 USD). The remaining $1.699 billion will be taxed at 30%. That means roughly $500 million will be paid in taxes. After it's all said and done, when you add the money he had made prior to the acquisition, Notch's personal net worth will be roughly $1.3 billion. Not a bad haul for a little side project he worked on for a few weeks in the summer of 2009!
