Did Bono Lose $350 Million or Make $1.7 Billion on Facebook? - East Idaho News
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Did Bono Lose $350 Million or Make $1.7 Billion on Facebook?

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Getty Bono?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1337984800519Franck Prevel/Getty Images(LONDON) — When Facebook went public on May 18, the press had a field day with U2 frontman Bono, proclaiming him the world’s richest rock star thanks to the 2.3 percent stake in Facebook owned by his private equity firm, Elevation Partners.

Well, with share prices falling steeply during Facebook’s first full week of trading, the press is already calculating Bono’s losses.

According to the U.K.’s NME.com, Bono and Elevation Partners lost more than $345 million in the value of their Facebook stake as shares fell below the initial public offering price of $38.

NME made its calculation before Friday’s market close.  In fact the numbers are worse.  At Friday’s closing price of $31.91, Facebook shares were down $6.09, or 16 percent, from the IPO price.  According to NME, Elevation owns 57.5 million shares, making Elevation’s stake worth over $350 million less that it was worth at the IPO.

Don’t cry for Bono and Elevation though.  According to NME, the 57.5 million shares were acquired for $90 million in 2009, or around $1.57 per share.  That means even at Friday’s closing price Elevation’s investment was up $30.34 a share or more than 1,900 percent — a gain of more than $1.7 billion.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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