Music

U2's Bono makes almost $1 billion from Facebook

Published Tuesday, Aug 16 2011, 15:24 BST | By Lewis Corner | 32 comments

Bono and the rest of U2 enjoy a night out at Reina, Istanbul

Bono is on course to make close to a $1 billion (£488 million) profit from his shares in Facebook.

The U2 frontman's investment firm bought a stake in the social networking site for $210m (£128m) in November 2009, reports The Guardian.

However, this week Interpublic - who was an early investor in Facebook - sold half of its 0.4% share for $133m (£81m), allowing investors to estimate the site's value at $65 billion (£40bn).

Bono's company Elevation Partners' cut of the business is now valued at $975m (£595m) and has quadrupled since its initial purchase of the share.

Elevation Partners has therefore made a profit of £488m on the investment. As of last December, the company was valued at $50bn (£30.5bn).

U2 recently finished their record-breaking '360' world tour, which grossed over $736m (£447m).

The band were also named the world highest-earning musicians by Forbes in June, having made $195m (£120m) in a year.

Watch U2 perform 'Vertigo' live as part of their '360' tour below: