“U2 singer Bono’s investments into Elevation Partners, which has offices in New York and Menlo Park, have helped make him the ‘worst investor investor in America,’ according to the online publication 24/7 Wall Street,” Patrick Hoge reports for The San Francisco Business Times.
“With large investments in Palm, Forbes, and Move.com — ‘an unprecedented string of disastrous investments which even bad luck could not explain’ — Elevation Partners has earned the distinction of being “arguably the worst run institutional fund of any size in the United States,” 24/7 Wall Street asserts,” Hoge reports.
Hoge reports, “Bono is listed on Elevation’s website as one of the five leaders, along with Fred Anderson, former CFO at Apple Computer, Marc Bodnick, founding principal of Silver Lake Partners, Roger McNamee, co-founder of Silver Lake and Integral Capital Partners and Bret Pearlman, former senior managing director of The Blackstone Group.”
“Elevation bought 25 percent of Palm in 2007, and the company’s stock has since tanked – down to $3.65 from $18 last September,” Hoge reports. “Citing unnamed sources, 24/7 says Elevation Partners put $300 million into Forbes’ online operations in 2006, and the company’s total value has dropped from $750 million to ‘perhaps $100 million.’ Elevation put $100 million into Move.com, which owns home and real estate websites, and company shares subsequently lost 50 percent of their value, 24/7 noted.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Bono’s not an investor, he’s an incinerator (who nonetheless bakes a mean pie).
Like we expect a sunglass-wearing rock star to know how to invest.
Sheesh.
@ Arnold Ziffel
He’s not even that good at rocking. At least not in the last 20 years.
Schadenfreude. Chomp on that Bonio.
@Arnold Ziffel:
Despite all the media speculations and half-truths about Michael Jackson’s spendings — which were not actually that off the wall; and the $300+ million debts appeared not because of spendings, but because of significant 2000-dot-com bubble assets write-offs — he has made many bad but also probably the best investment among musicians.
He bought a catalogue that contained also most of Beatles’ songs for $47 million (MacCartney was greedy and refused to top the bid and had many grudge type complaints against Jackson — while it was only his own greediness that did not allow him to own the catalogue).
Now the catalogue worths about $2 billion, with Jackson’s part valued at $1 billion.
(Jackson also solely owns catalogue of his own music, which currently worths like $0.5 billion or more. He invested in it, also buying other people’s songs to there.)
Bono is still #2 in my book.
Bono also jumped ship and sold out to Blackberry diluting his cool
while the whole world reaches for an iPhone. Steve will have him begging to get back with Apple. Check out the commercial.
So Sad!
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3786791/u2_advertising_the_new_blackberry/
I have climbed highest mountains
I have run through the fields
but I still haven’t found what I’m looking for
Don’t cry for Bono. He paid only a couple percent on his millions in royalty income, because he launders his income thru the Netherlands. Losing his shirt with Elevation Partners is just desserts.
As for the valuation of the Beatles’ catalog at $2B, that valuation is very unreliable and built upon quicksand. It’s a bit like a subprime mortgage where they inflate the value, in order to borrow against it. The more they can value it for, the more they can borrow. Whatever banks are left holding the loans will be crying, mark my words.
For those of you who haven’t read about U2’s tax shelter in the Netherlands, here’s the article that uncovered the scam back in 2007. Only last year, Bono called the Irish people who protested his tax sham, hypocrites. So, it’s pretty clear, this is not something Bono’s accountant cooked up without Bono’s knowledge. He knows exactly what he was doing, ripping off the taxman, while asking foreign governments to provide aid to Africa. That’s our tax dollars going to aid, not Bono’s. Bono knows the word “hypocrite” up close and personal.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/04/business/yourmoney/04amster.html?pagewanted=all
To think, that money could have helped reduce Third World debt!
Still, Palm seemed like a good investment. It was the best pre-tender to the iPhrone.
And his music has tanked too! U2 sucks compared to the U2 of ’80s
“Ever time I clap, another American investor goes broke…”
@ Arnold Ziffel – “Like we expect a sunglass-wearing rock star to know how to invest.”
Why not? Whenever we need the point of view of a so called enlighted, educated, worldly prognosticator, those in the press go after your Hollywood types, Comedians and Singers… as if I give a rats ass about their opinion, but the idiots in the media it is what we have to deal with and is a cross we all have to bare!
this isn’t even apple news. why is it here? get back on topic please.
The article just mentions Bono’s investments in Elevation Partners. How does that get him singled out as the “worst investor in America”? The other “partners” in Elevation Partners appear to be equally incompetent at finding good investments, and I’m sure those others were more instrumental in the investment decision-making, compared to Bono’s role.
So what were Bono’s other investments, not related to Elevation Partners, that distinguishes him as the “worst”?
Connor MacBook writes, “To think, that money could have helped reduce Third World debt! Still, Palm seemed like a good investment. It was the best pre-tender to the iPhrone.”
Reductions or write-offs of third world debt have almost never worked. cf. “The White Man’s Burden” by development economist William Easterly. (The numbers are in Chapter 6.)
As to Palm, I recall the heady days of their IPO, when they had a market cap comparable to General Motors. I decided to pass, as I did on Enron. (I made my mistakes elsewhere.)
Why is this here? Zero apple news unless you count the former CFO of apple being an investor too enough to warrant an article.
@ zach and @ Andreeccm
You young kids obviously don’t know that Apple and Bono (with U2) used to be partnered to promote Apple products.
Once upon a time, I guess when you might have still been in diapers, there was even an U2 iPod.
Bono jumped off this winner (Apple) to ride on what he was told would be the next-big-thing, The Palm Pre.
So now we see that Bono ditched Apple, to ride on, and bet on, the wrong horse.
News related to Apple, on an Apple site; See?
(MDN Word: “Student”)
Bono is another radical progressive. He doesn’t need money anyway, does he? Isn’t everyone going to be taken care of by ‘The Man’? Roll on 2012. Buy appl.
Lov u2 since i was 13 in 1983 with the war album But when u2 jumps ship from apple iPod to blackberry for this last tour?? Idiotic. Their site sucks too. The blackberry experience sucked. Bono is he shit though and probably not evn involved.
Bono can buy PALM?
That’s what you get for seeing the world through rose colored glasses…
Nothing like appreciation and real convictions, huh Bono?
Zack “this isn’t even apple news. why is it here? get back on topic please.”
Do you go to funerals and tell them to ‘stay on topic’ if they date mention anything besides the deceased? You must be the life of the party my friend!
@NHL. Great name. I am a NHL photographer. Btw: I am no kid although at 41 I still feel like one.
Personally, I would not rank bono as the worst investor. I would leave that distinction for our socialist president.
Oh and I forgot to mention. It’s pretty childish of you to make wild assumptions about anyone that happens to challenge the validity of a mdn article. I was a U2 fan back when they were on the club circuit. So I guess you’re not as psychic as you thought you were.
Make comments about the article or even the questions raised. But personal insults do nothing but invalidate your credibility.
Have a nice day.