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Bono: The World’s Richest Rock Star With Facebook IPO?

Bono could become the world’s richest rock musician once opening day of the Facebook IPO is closed. According to MTV News, the tech savvy rocker owns 2.3% of Facebook through his investment grou...
Bono: The World’s Richest Rock Star With Facebook IPO?
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  • Bono could become the world’s richest rock musician once opening day of the Facebook IPO is closed. According to MTV News, the tech savvy rocker owns 2.3% of Facebook through his investment group, Elevation Partners. Bono bought the shares back in 2009, shelling up $90 million. A wise investment. His share could be worth over $1.5 billion after today. Going from millionaire to billionaire in a few hours has to be a good feeling, especially when you know nothing about programming.

    With Bono’s stock at $1.5 billion, he could slide into first among the world’s richest rock stars. The spot was previously held by Beatle Paul McCartney, who’s fortune is estimated at $1.05 billion.

    Bono has denied this. Speaking with Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC, he explains that his firm, Elevation Partners, invests money for a number of people. He does not necessarily hold the entire 2.3%. This makes since, but it would be hard to believe that Bono, himself, doesn’t personally own a large chunk of that stock.

    “Contrary to reports, I’m not a billionaire or going to be richer than any Beatle — and not just in the sense of money, by the way; the Beatles are untouchable — those billionaire reports are a joke,” he said. “In Elevation, we invest other people’s money — endowments, pension funds. We do get paid, of course. But, you know, I felt rich when I was 20 years old and my wife was paying my bills. Just being in a band, I’ve always felt blessed. I got interested in technology because I’m an artist, I’m interested in the forces that shape the world, politics, religion, the stuff we’ve been talking about today. Technology is huge, I wanted to learn about it. People might say that’s odd, but I think it’s odd if artists aren’t interested in the world around them. I’m always chasing that. Facebook are an amazing team, a brilliant team. It’s a technology that brings people together.”

    According to the Rolling Stone, he will use these funds to continue his philanthropic work in Africa.

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