BONO’S GADGET GAMBLE COSTS HIM DEAR
Irish rocker BONO is feeling the effects of the struggling economy thanks to his multi-million dollar investment in smart telephone maker Palm Inc .. - stock shares have plummeted a staggering 35 per cent since January (1 0).
In December 2008, bosses at the U2 frontman’s Elevation Partners compan y announced they would make the investment to save the debt-riddled firm, the maker of Treo and Centro smart phones, as it prepared to introduce n ew products.
Elevation Partners, a California-based private-equity business, which c ounts Bono as a managing partner, pumped nearly $500 million (=C2=A3312.5 million) into the company.
However, stock shares plummeted 19 per cent on Thursday (25Feb10), amid reports Palm is losing ground against gadget-making rivals Apple and Res earch In Motion (RIM). Shares have now dropped a total of 35 per cent sin ce January (10), reports the New York Post.
Ironically, analysts suggest Bono’s appearance in commercials for Palm’ s rival, RIM’s BlackBerry, last summer (09) could have worked against his own investment.
The firm’s executives initially predicted up to $1.8 billion in sales f or the year ending in May (10). However, analysts now predict results wil l be "well below" that, with sales figures for the December-to-February p eriod expected between $100 million (=C2=A363 million) to $310 million (=C2 =A3193.8 million).
But Chief Executive Jon Rubinstein is playing down the loss. He says: " Driving broad consumer adoption of Palm products is taking longer than we anticipated."
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