Bono and his Facebook Billion Dollars

Gosh, not only is Bono arguably the biggest Rock Star on the planet, he has sold over 150 million records, recieved 22 grammys, was knighted in 2007, awarded the Légion d'honneur in France and has had 3 nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize. 

Now it turns out he has a penchant for investment!

Don't you just hate him? I mean you just know he has a big **** as well, right?

:-)

Haha As a songwriter/singer I love the guy. Well at least until 1992 or so... as far as I have read, the investment was done on his behalf by his investment advisors. Given the way he has spoken to his fans since, it must be fair to ask if he will donate a large some of this profit to charity?

What profit?

Elevation Partners has suffered major losses with their $300 million investment in Forbes and another $460 million in Palm.  Luckily, they invested $90 million back in 2009 in Facebook. Their total investment to date is approximately $195 million for a 1.5% network. Win some, lose some. Not clear what % of Elevation Partners Bono owns, he is one of 3 co-founders.

While Bono promotes charitable causes, he doesn't disclose whether he personally gives any money to them and, if so, how much. These include Amnesty International, the Burma Campaign U.K., DATA, which stands for Debt, AIDS, Trade and Africa, the environmental group Greenpeace and ONE.

``It's actually, I think, more honest to say we're rock stars, we're havin' it large, we're havin' a great time and don't focus on charity too much -- that's private; justice is public,''

Bono's greatest value is as a spokesman, not a donor. He is an extraordinarily talented lobbyist. He's got extremely persuasive, charming interpersonal skills that can appeal to the thing in a politician that reminds them of the spark that got them into politics in the first place, and the idea of public service.

Good when people don't go on about giving to charity IMO. Fair play to him.

Some good posts here. If you get on YouTube most comments regarding Bono are that he is a fake, asks us to donate our cash while keeping his fortune all to himself. Has never been the case, Bono rarely, if ever asks anyone to donate, what he seeks is for his causes to gain exposure from the masses, so the masses can influence the politicians. He understands that shifting policy and new legislation will do more than a handout ever could.

He is surprisingly grounded as well. Saw an interview with him once where he was asked how he gets all these meetings with world leaders, he said he understands the world leaders don't fear a short, Irish rock star, what they do fear is the audience he reaches and influences. He then said he was gonna use that fear to extract everything he possibly could out of it.

For all the criticism he receives, I think the man is a legend. And yes, greatest rock star in the world as well.

surprisingly ground

Not like his favourite hat

*ed

Why doesn't he start donating some decent songs to the music industry

Short Irish ****.

it is better for him to manage his own money than give to charity today - then what/ if he does donate at the time of  his death then  that amount would be more surely ? 

Tbf -  people on average donate around 100 pence a week out of their hard earned - the figures that get bandied about are inclusive of charity shop spending and charity draws.

I may have misjudged things here. Perhaps Bono is an easy target given his profile and public persona, hence the omission of prior losses suffered by Elevation in articles about the Facebook profit.

My view that wealthy people who ask for money/try to raise awareness should put a million aside for themselves and donate the rest of their wealth to causes they promote is probably a tad simplistic aswell.

I just don't like the guy at all so I'm a bit biased. It is always good to hear another point of view.

he is an easy target - most people with a few million would look after themselves without giving a thought to charity - Bono has the energy to do this,and he does it well  - very well played to the fella ,no one should be telling him how and when to spend his own money

expert in tax avoidance, pays virtually nothing, his tours, where he records in the studio, are solely based on tax "efficiency"

The tax avoidance thing has been harped on about for years. Wealthy people from all walks of life have been doing the same thing for years, and have any of us mere mortals ever got a little creative at tax time??? For whatever reason people ignore all this, tall poppy syndrome I think. Why knock a bloke who is genuinely doing his all to make the world a better place, when you can knock those just as rich who do sweet bugger all while being guilty of the same thing.

ahhh- so that's how the Celtic tiger lost it's roar 

you have to give it to saint bono

he is one hell of a shrewd guy

U2 are a company with 5 shareholders of whom Bono is only one.  No surprise that they should choose to minimise their tax exposure.

What amazes me is that if Bono was your average rock star who just shagged birds and did drug, everyone would think he was a great lad.  Instead he actually tries, very effectively, to make a difference and all people can harp on about is U2s tax minimisation.

Campaigning for governments to spend more tax revenues on aid projects, whilst undertaking large scale tax avoision... a few questions are bound to be asked of someone who does that.

I don't think anybody would 'harp on' about his tax aviodance/minimisation, if he had never publicly slated a politician during gigs for not spending enough tax revenues on aid.

Again, he is an easy target because he is doing something. Personally whenever I see someone with his wealth campaigning/trying to raise awareness etc I always think "how much have you given?" But I am quite cynical as you can tell.

Crisp knows

People are perfectly entitled to minimise their tax liability and still have a say on where and how those taxes paid are spent.

"Please give £2 a month to buy fresh water for these kids in Africa"....coming from the man who's hotel in dublin charges 5 euro for a glass of friggin tap water....

it's illegal to charge for tap water

I won't send £2 then

Well it tasted like tap water...and for 5 frigging euros what kind of water was it ? The man is scum

he probably has his own brand  -  calls it  O2  ,or similar

i'd stick to the Gu  inness  and leave the water well alone

re:Some good posts here. If you get on YouTube most comments regarding Bono are that he is a fake, asks us to donate our cash while keeping his fortune all to himself. Has never been the case, Bono rarely, if ever asks anyone to donate, what he seeks is for his causes to gain exposure from the masses, so the masses can influence the politicians. He understands that shifting policy and new legislation will do more than a handout ever could.


and that sounds v.noble... then you realise that once the Ire gov took away the tax breaks, Bono left his own country and pi$$ed off to, I think, Amsterdamn because the tax breaks were better over there.  Virtually all of the U2 songs I can think of are about Ireland, the country is suffering right now, and yet Bono moves his business to accumulate yet more money.... those are not the actions of a honourable man.  He is obscenly rich, how can he justify needing yet more money?  It's like people who live in Monaco for a few years to avoid tax after the sale of their company: I sold my company for 30 million and the govement wanted 10 mill (or whatever) so I would only have been left with 20 million.  When you can put the word "only" before being left with 20 million you've lost the plot.

As to his trying to change the mind of world leaders, I think a lot of that is driven my his ego that wallows in world leaders talking to him.

I think he's a t**t.

The tap water in Dublin is better than bottled water.

I wouldn't say a bad word about the guy.
mainly because he's a major stakeholder in the Face Book Inc, can trace my home address through my internet activity, and his friends in the US administration can now arrest or kill me anywhere in the world with no habeas corpus.

Yeahyeah - Understand what you're saying, heard it before, very simplistic viewpoint though. 80,000 people screaming your name in admiration every night is surely enough stroking of the ego. To think he just does this as more of an ego boost is a bit disrespectful to be honest. What are all the other celebrities/millionaires doing? Sweet FA is the answer. As previously posted, he is one of five that make up U2 the business (Paul McGuinness being the 5th), how do you know it was his decision to go off shore? The man has made a real difference and he does not ask the everyday man to part with their cash in order to do it. What's the issue?

He should consider donating a few pairs of his stack heel boots to countries suffering from flooding.
Even his lowest heels would ensure victims could stand well above the water line.

Those he was charging £5 for water are those who can most afford it - there are cheaper Hotels -they should find them .

Bono is a fine man

Just becuase a celebrity doesn't go to the White House to lobby, you don't know if they give privately.

The issue is that Bono publicly slated Bertie Ahern for not giving enough aid, and moved operations to Holland.

For the Irish Govt to have met Bono's expectations, they would have had 3 options;
1) Divert existing funds from existing projects in Ireland (heath, welfare, wages whatever you want to name) and give it in aid.
2) Raise taxes and give the money in aid.
3) A combination of 1 and 2.

The Irish Govt did raise a tax (not to give the money in aid I'm sure) by getting rid of a tax break that he had benefited from for years. What did he do along with the other 4? They moved their operations to Holland.

The issue is clear; how can a government meet Bono's demands for aid, if all citizens behave the way he did? If everybody with anything like enough money and opportunity moved operations to avoid a tax that didn't suit, who would pay the tax/aid bill then?

Ordinary people who are less mobile, that is who. You may not agree with that but there is an issue.

Bono does want ordinary people to pay for it - indirectly through tax. However, his ONE Foundation did take donations and look what happened to that money. They then hid behind "we are trying to raise awareness" as if nobody knows there are serious problems in Africa.

I struggle with the thought that a man who so strongly believes in what he preaches, can have so much money in the bank, or buy a first class plane ticket for a hat. I am cynical though. I'm off to listen to Achtung Baby...

The Irish economy is a real hot potato.