It appears Bono - frontman with Irish rockers U2 - is not actually the richest man in music. It was claimed that Facebook's flotation on Friday (May 18, 2012) would net the singer around $1 billion - his investment group Elevation own around 2.3 per cent of the company, reports the UK's Daily Mirror.
There had been suggestions that the shrewd investment would make Bono a billionaire within 24 hours, though Sir Paul McCartney can rest easy, safe in the knowledge that his fortune is still unbeaten. Speaking after Mark Zuckerberg's social network made a solid start on the market, 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". Shares in the company closed up around 23 cents on their first day of trading after being priced at $38 each. It made the site worth around $105 billion, more than Amazon.com and MCDonalds.
According to the Sunday Times Rich List, Paul MCCartney is joined by Sir Elton John, Sir Mick Jagger, Sting and Keith Richards in the Top 10 richest musicians.