CNN? I trust Celebrity Net Worth better: "Despite what you may have heard in the news this week, Bono did NOT make $1.5 billion off Facebook. Here's what actually happened..." http://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/celebrity/bono-become-facebook-billionaire/ " Oh and for what it's worth, even without the Facebook billions, Bono is still sitting on a current net worth of $700 million. That's enough to make him the 17th richest celebrity in the world. He's $500 million away from Paul McCartney who is the sixth richest celebrity. He's $4.4 BILLION away from George Lucas," TL;DR: He probably made 50 million on FB.... "Based on these numbers, a more reasoned estimate, provided by Fortune's Dan Primack, is that Bono personally made around $43 million off the Facebook investment."
LOL, agreed. The media often engages in spin, this is no different. From the Facebook early prospectus which was publicly available on SEC.gov, Bono's firm, Elevation Partners, not Bono himself, owned pre-IPO shares of Facebook stock at a cost basis of $1.11. Certainly, a profitable investment on the original shares, given that FB reached closed to $100 recently. However, if you recall Bono also had a huge stake in Palm (remember the demise of the Palm Pilot?). His cost basis was around $18, and Elevation Partners lost over $100million when HP acquired Palm. Check this out, this article was printed in March of 2010, BEFORE Palm was acquired by HP... http://www.irishcentral.com/opinion...million-on-palm-phone-88502397-238023581.html "Elevation owns 42 per cent of the company or close to 68 million shares. The stock price now is down to just $7 a share from $18 when they bought it." "Our recent underperformance has been very disappointing, but the potential for Palm remains strong," Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein said in a statement." "...but the potential for Palm remains 'strong'?" NOT! He sold the firm to HP one month later, for $5.70 a share in April of 2010. Don't blindly trust what you see on the news, nor what you hear from a CEO, lol! Bono, however, has done quite well over his career, so losing money is not a big deal when you have huge scores. U2's stake in Live Nation was another huge home run "trade."
"The media often engages in spin" The hell you say, Never heard of such a thing. Ever since I was knee high to my pappy I have always relied on the things them people tell me while listen'n to the TV. Why, I will have you know that ever'a morn my paper comes ta me and I rely on them words for my daily knowledge of what this world brings and that even my pappy.... Wait what...are you tryn ta tell me that that boy from ireland...he makes more money on his debentures than he does playn that dang gitar...... why,the hell you say....
Mick Jagger got his degree from the London School of Economics, right? I thought Mick and Sir Paul were pretty well off too. Add JZ to this mix and you have the smart businessmen of rock!