what? It’s not. We’ve been through this bullshit so many times; it’s actually about coming to grips with your own ambition and ideas and being prepared to take shit for them.” Glasses back on. “I’ve proved I can take shit for what I believe in.”

So, with the benefit of diligent apprenticeship alongside the world’s brightest business

minds and a most enviable Rolodex, what big ideas does the man who has successfully tackled niggling problems like global hunger and third-world debt cancellation have for saving the cratering music industry? The decision to liquidate $25 million worth of the band’s Live Nation stock last year nearly kneecapped the

 

Ka-chIng BaBy

Did Bono’s lyrics inspire the portfolio of his venture-capital firm, Elevation Partners? Probably not!

company, even as it put U2’s clout into dramatic relief. And the decision to release Horizon with a downloadable widget containing lush visuals, directed by longtime U2 photographer Anton Corbijn, is certainly a step toward reestablishing the album as a commodity worth buying and owning. But what about the big picture?

“I was watching as the business was heading towards the edge of the waterfall seven years ago, and I wanted to be part of the solution,” Bono says, grinning crookedly. “As it happens, that’s an ongoing search.”

Move Inc.

Forbes

SDI Media

Palm

Real estate search engine

ELEVATION’S STAKE
Ponied up $100 million
in November 2005

LYRICAL MATCH
“There’s no room, no
space to rent in this
town” (“Beautiful Day”)

Publisher of print and Web media, including RealClearPolitics.com

ELEVATION’S S TAKE
For a rumored $250
million, bought a minority
interest in August 2006

LYRICAL MA TCH
“I don’t know which side
I’m on / I don’t know my
right from left” (“Two
Hearts Beat as One”)

Provider of subtitling
and language-dubbing
services

ELEVATION’SSTAKE
Purchased company
for an undisclosed
amount in August 2007

L YRICAL MATCH
“Her lips say one thing /
Her movements, some-
thing else” (“So Cruel”)

Maker of omnipresent,
time-sucking
mobile devices

ELEVATION’S STAKE
Spent $325 million
for 27 percent in
October 2007

LYRICAL MATCH
“I can’t live with or
without you” (“With or
Without You”)
JOSH WIMMER

The Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Clontarf, 15 minutes north of Dublin, is where the members of U2 met. Now-retired teacher Donald Moxham used to let the group—originally called the Larry Mullen Band—practice in a classroom.

“I thought they were teenagers going through a phase,” he says. “I believe anyone who takes initiative should be encouraged, but I never imagined this would happen. Larry gave me a pair of drumsticks and told me to hold on to them for when they got famous. And I did. So maybe I had a hunch.”

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