Angry Birds Firm Could Be Moving to Ireland

The company that created the Angry Birds mobile phone game is considering moving its headquarters to Ireland. Angry Birds has been downloaded by more than a billion users around the world and its owner, the Rovio group, is developing a broad-based entertainment business on the income from the brand.

The company’s profits before tax and other charges was more than 60 per cent of its income, he said.
Rovio employs approximately 400 people, mostly in Finland, but Rovio is in contact with IDA Ireland about establishing headquarters here.
“The Irish authorities have been very active and we have been promoting that. We are considering it,” Mr Hed said, speaking in Monaco, where he is a contestant in the Ernst & Young International Entrepreneur of the Year awards.
“It is something that we need to look at. For now we have stayed in Finland. But it is on top of our minds.”
He said that if the decision was made to move to Ireland, the company would then decide exactly what elements of its operations would move. “If we did make that decision then it would be a natural thing to do to have some production [in Ireland] also.”
The corporation tax rate in Finland is 24.5 per cent, while Ireland’s rate is 12.5 per cent. Most of the world’s fast-growing technology companies, such as Google and Facebook, have set up European headquarter operations in Dublin so as to benefit from Ireland’s low corporation tax rate.