George Pimentel/WireImage; Kevin Mazur/WireImage; JustinSullivan/Getty ImagesWith the big Facebook public offering coming up, do any stars stand to get any richer? What about the celebrities who have the most Likes on Facebook?
—Ms. Ravenclaw, via the inbox
You speak of the spectacularly overhyped tech company founded by That Guy Who Inspired That Spectacularly Overhyped Oscar Bait Movie. This week the 8-year-old company plans to float to about 421 million shares of its stock. The world is freaking out, just freaking out, noting that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg stands to rake in an estimated $1.25 billion from the offering.
As far as who else will get rich, yes, there is a big star out there, a bona fide celebrity, who stands to make millions:
How about Bono?
Yes! Bono!
The U2 musician who already has an estimated net worth of something like $900 million is set to make even more this week. Why? Because his investment company, Elevation Partners, holds a stake in Facebook said to be worth hundreds of millions. How much the company might sell isn't clear; neither is the exact profit, if any, Bono might directly make. But whatever happens, the singer's net worth will likely rise, says Aaron Task, who has been following the story as cohost of The Daily Ticker on Yahoo! Finance.
As for the celebrities who are the most popular on Facebook, let's see who we have. According to our research, the most popular star is—get this—Eminem, who has more than 57 million likes. Rihanna comes in second with more than 55 million, followed by Lady Gaga, Shakira and the late Michael Jackson.
Will they get even richer through Facebook as well? Not likely. Not unless they bought a stake in the company at one point.
"There have been people over the years who have done work for Facebook and who took payment in company stock instead of cash," Task tells this B!tch.
So, theoretically, if Gaga, say, played the company Christmas party a few years back and took a stock payment, she could get richer this week.