May 18, 2012 20:31

U2's Bono: 'I'm not a billionaire'

The frontman has slammed reports saying Facebook's floatation has made him richer than Paul McCartney

U2 frontman Bono has rubbished reports which stated he was to become the richest musician in the world today (May 18), overtaking Paul McCartney.

It was thought that when Facebook was floated on the stock exchange today all its early investors would earn huge amounts of money, including the U2 singer, who owns 2.3 per cent of the shares in Facebook through his private equity firm, Elevation Partners, which they bought for $90 million (£57 million) in 2009.

However, Bono has denied that his share is now worth over $1.5 billion (£940 million), putting him well above Paul McCartney in the financial stakes, who is currently the world's richest rock star with a fortune of £665 million. Speaking to MSNBC, Bono said:

Contrary to reports, I'm 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.

He added: "In Elevation, we invest other people's money – endowments, pension funds. We do get paid of course. 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… 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."

U2 are rumoured to be working on new material with One Direction's songwriters, according to reports, with Swedish pop svengali Carl Falk, who penned the boyband's 'What Makes You Beautiful' apparently on board.

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