NZNTV

STOCK MARKET. Bono has written dozens songs during his long and enduring career. But a group he set up several years ago has made more money from an investment in Facebook in 2009, than from all of the music he has written and recorded over the years.

Reports said the 55-year-old rock frontman bought a 2.3 per cent share of the social media site for nearly $86m 2009 through Elevation Partners, an investment group he co-founded.

Contrary to some reports, the investment has not made him the world’s wealthiest musician; the $1.4bn will be split between the six founding partners of Elevation Partners, which only get 20 per cent of profits.

The take-away for Bono, whose real name is Paul Hewson, is  approximately $43m from the deal, according to Value Walk. He is still some way behind both Paul McCartney and Madonna on the richest pop stars list. 

The investment group’ overall return is estimated to be more than that earned by Bono and U2 over the years, during which they have enjoyed 150m record sales. The Irish Examinerclaimed recently U2 had accumulated a net worth more than a billion dollars.

Bono’s success comes just days after he announced an upcoming campaign he will be involve in to empower women.

He and top African male musicians D’banj, Diamond and Banky W announced last week that they will be included in a remix of the song Strong Girl – a rallying cry for women’s empowerment which features top African female talent.

Bono, whose ONE advocacy group is the creative force behind the campaign for women empowerment, has said music can create awareness and help shift policies to empower women.