Bono
Bono could oust Paul McCartney as the world's richest musician after Facebook (FB) went public Friday. The U2 front man reportedly bought 2.3 percent of shares that could be worth as much as $1.5 billion for the IPO of the social media giant through his investment group, Elevation Partners. PA

Bono stands to make a lot of money from the Facebook IPO - possibly enough to make him the world's richest musician.

The U2 front man is a partner in Elevation Partners, a private equity firm that owns a little more than 2 percent of Facebook. Elevation's stake in Facebook is valued around $1.3 billion, after putting in about $176 million.

According to SEC filings by Facebook, Elevation Partners is selling about 4.6 million shares of Facebook in the IPO. That will leave it with a total of 35,487,149 Class B shares, or 2.4 percent of the total. It also gives the private equity firm 2.3 percent of voting rights (Class B shares are different because they entitle the owner to 10 times more votes than a Class A shareholder.)

Whether or not that makes Bono richer than current number one Paul McCartney, who is worth $1.05 billion according to MTV News, is uncertain. Elevation Partners, based in San Francisco with a secondary office in New York, is a privately-held company and isn't under any obligation to disclose Bono's stake in it.

Earlier reports had Bono's net worth pegged at $900 million after a 30-year music career. The 2011 world tour by U2 was the highest-grossing of the year, with receipts of more than $300 million.

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