bono to make a killing with facebook investment.. unleash the custard pies!

[bono2012]

Good luck to Bono et al, it's a nice little tickle and a lesson in investing for us all.  Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but sometimes you might win BIG.

My only hope is that now Bono and The Edge are even more super-rich, they stop whoring themselves out to corporations like Universal, LiveNation and Blackberry and focus on making brilliant albums without worrying about record sales and having 'hits'.  I mean "how much is enough?" - that's what Bud Fox asks Gordon Gekko in Wall Street.

         U2 has been interested in record sales and hits since they released BOY in 1980. That is never going to change.

[bono2012]

My only hope is that now Bono and The Edge are even more super-rich, they stop whoring themselves out to corporations like Universal, LiveNation and Blackberry and focus on making brilliant albums without worrying about record sales and having 'hits'.

Exactly! What they should do is accept the fact that they'll NEVER be popular again (or at least, go in with that mindset) and make music that appeals to them, whether it's a quiet acoustic album, an electronic album, or whatever. They should TRY to not be noticed and see what happens. Release an album with no fanfare and set their expectations low. Obviously, if it's a good album (or even if it's not), people will notice. They've all got money, so like Tumblin' Dice said, they can focus on the music. If asked about touring, they could say, "We'll see what happens. Maybe we will, maybe we won't". And don't even think about tours until after the album. They would be truly respected by people if they acted like (or really didn't) care about their popularity. In fact, that attitude, ironically, could make them relevant again.

             What are you talking about, the band cares as much about hits and sales as they did in 1980 when they released BOY. U2 is the most popular band in the world period. They just grossed an astonishing $736 million from playing to 7.3 million people. Most mega popular artist in the industry and CAN'T even do 25% of that with a tour. Their last album, NLOTH was the 7th biggest selling album of 2009. The band will continue to do what they have always done, which is record the best music possible and sell it to as many people as possible.

[miami]

you said it right dougie!

and i wonder:
is there any critic of bono's money obsession who would not want to change his bank account for bono's? Please speak up!

of course i would change my bank account to bono's, but what i wouldn't do is garner all his wealth whilst at the same time lobby against governments regarding world poverty and then sneakily defend moving my tax base to a more 'tax liberal' country. it smacks of the highest form of hypocrisy. i remember bono's speach to the blair government's annual conference in the mid-00's. he said whilst he wasn't accountable, governments were and therefore they should be careful about what policies they adopt. well i disagree with bono; i think he IS as accountable for his actions as anyone else involved in this debate, and he should be very careful any time he goes spouting off about poverty that he has a good defence against custard pies other than fudging his answers and coming up with the 'unaccountable' line.

[Tarahumara]

My only hope is that now Bono and The Edge are even more super-rich, they stop whoring themselves out to corporations like Universal, LiveNation and Blackberry and focus on making brilliant albums without worrying about record sales and having 'hits'.

Exactly! What they should do is accept the fact that they'll NEVER be popular again (or at least, go in with that mindset) and make music that appeals to them, whether it's a quiet acoustic album, an electronic album, or whatever. They should TRY to not be noticed and see what happens. Release an album with no fanfare and set their expectations low. Obviously, if it's a good album (or even if it's not), people will notice. They've all got money, so like Tumblin' Dice said, they can focus on the music. If asked about touring, they could say, "We'll see what happens. Maybe we will, maybe we won't". And don't even think about tours until after the album. They would be truly respected by people if they acted like (or really didn't) care about their popularity. In fact, that attitude, ironically, could make them relevant again.

             What are you talking about, the band cares as much about hits and sales as they did in 1980 when they released BOY. U2 is the most popular band in the world period. They just grossed an astonishing $736 million from playing to 7.3 million people. Most mega popular artist in the industry and CAN'T even do 25% of that with a tour. Their last album, NLOTH was the 7th biggest selling album of 2009. The band will continue to do what they have always done, which is record the best music possible and sell it to as many people as possible.

What I'm saying is that U2 will sell albums no matter what and that they'd probably sell just as many without the promotions and usual hype about "this is our best". Bono should just relax and let the music do the talking. And my point was that if they go the other direction and make themselves less available to the public and not appear so eager to please, they'll sell just as many albums. And if they go into music making without trying so hard, they might actually make more poingnant and interesting music.

[mattressjedi]

Bono should just relax and let the music do the talking.


Bono has only let the music do the talking after he has finished talking. 

[Smee]

As i predicted on the day, bono should have sold the shares on the day, as experts reckon, with the drop in the price, his shares are worth about £300M less than they were on the day they floated. And i can only see them dropping further in the weeks and months ahead

[ITM]

As i predicted on the day, bono should have sold the shares on the day, as experts reckon, with the drop in the price, his shares are worth about £300M less than they were on the day they floated. And i can only see them dropping further in the weeks and months ahead

 But for a $90M investment, the difference in between figures beginning with a B is going to be as soft a landing as anyone making a killing could dream of. Put differently, if Elevation's shares maxed out at the decreased number, it's still a pretty good day.

[mattressjedi]

As i predicted on the day, bono should have sold the shares on the day, as experts reckon, with the drop in the price, his shares are worth about £300M less than they were on the day they floated. And i can only see them dropping further in the weeks and months ahead

Do we know for sure he didnt sell his shares prior to the drop? Even Zuckerberg divested loads of shares when the price was up.