ABC/Adam TaylorRecent reports by multiple media outlets claimed that U2 frontman Bono had surpassed Paul McCartney as the richest rock star on the planet, but Forbes begs to differ. While the earlier reports deduced that because Bono supposedly owned a 2.3-percent share of Facebook that now is worth more than $1.4 billion, he'd have to be wealthier than the former Beatle, but Forbes maintains that the calculations done by the original source of those reports was faulty.
Forbes explains that Bono himself did not purchase a 2.3-percent share of Facebook, the investment group he co-founded, Elevation Partners, did. The magazine contends that the rocker is just one of many investors in the firm, so his total fortune only includes a fraction of the full worth of the Facebook shares.
Similar claims regarding Bono's wealth emerged back in 2012, and apparently were based on the same faulty calculations. At that time, the U2 singer commented during a Washington, D.C., summit about the status of his wealth, "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."
According to the latest annual Sunday Times of London's Rich List, published in April 2015, McCartney's fortune was valued at 730 million pounds, or about $1.1 billion, while U2 as a whole was said to be worth 431 million pounds, or $660 million.
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