Watch a few seconds of the video above (if you can keep it to only a few seconds, actually—it’s mesmerizing)…
That video is U2 in a Pop On the Box appearance in 1979, and it’s…well, you can judge for yourself…. And looking at the Bono in that video, somehow I can see him as the guy who invested in Facebook, not the guy from the Sunday Bloody Sunday video.
Actually, it reminds me of Will Ferrell’s character in Zoolander—designer Jacobim Mugatu, formerly Jacob Moogberg of Frankie Goes to Hollywood before Relax fame, who invents the piano keyboard tie, makes it rich off it and then goes on to become a well-known fashion designer. But anyway…
Through his investment company Elevation Partners (which he co-founded, according to the Belfast Telegraph), Bono owns 1.5% of Facebook’s shares, which is valued at about $750 million at the moment—enough to make him a billionaire (or at least his investment firm) when the social media giant goes public, which is imminent.
Again, please don’t take this the wrong way U2 fans, but it’s just a little surprising. No, not the Pop On the Box video, which is more than a little surprising…the fact that Bono is gonna be one of the new Facebook billionaires.
But it’s true. Facebook is looking to raise about $5 billion with its IPO, which would be the biggest initial public sale of stock for a web company in history, according to the Washington Post. Experts are estimating that Facebook’s IPO could raise the overall value of the company up to somewhere between $75 billion and $100 billion.
According to the Belfast Telegraph, it will certainly raise the value of Elevation Partners’ shares to over $1 billion. Which will earn more for Bono than U2 has earned in the 30-plus years of their existence.
Well, it seems Bono the Rebel has done well for himself, doesn’t it?
