Bono: I’m Not The World’s Richest Musician
Bono’s investment company Elevation Partners is expected to walk away with close to $1.5 billion from the Facebook IPO. With that sort of haul, several media outlets have reported that the U2 singer would become the world’s richest rocker. But Bono said today that he’ll only see a small percentage of that money and that Paul McCartney is still far and away the world’s richest musician.
Bono said:
“Contrary to reports, this boy is 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.”
Bono, who isn’t exactly struggling with money these days, said that Elevation Partners will get a percentage of the reported $1.5 billion, but most of the money will go to the investors.
“In Elevation, we invest other people’s money — endowments, pension funds. We do get paid, of course. And I’m blessed.”
Bono ended his message saying that regardless of the millions he’s made over his music career, or the $1.5 billion he didn’t pocket after the Facebook IPO, he’s always felt rich because he’s always made music.
“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.”
So who’s the world’s richest musician? According to MTV, Paul McCartney’s net worth is hovering at around $1.05 billion.
