(06-26-2002) U2 earns its place among the planet’s top earners - Irish Examiner

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June 26, 2002
U2 earns its place among the planet’s top earners


By Conor Keane

THE sweetest thing for U2 was their latest record earning world tour as it pushed the band’s income into the stratosphere to make them the joint fourth top entertainment earners of 2002.
The Irish rock group were on par with world number one golfer Tiger Woods in the earning stakes, according to Forbes’ 100 Top Celebrities list.

U2 did not make the list in 2001 or 2000 but their latest world tour grossed €134m and netted close to €20m for the Dublin quartet, who stole the show at the Super Bowl American football final in New Orleans earlier this year.

The 2002 Sunday Times Rich List had the four band members Bono, 40, Adam Clayton, 42, the Edge, 40, and Larry Mullen, 40, on a combined wealth of €663m. It is estimated the band’s back catalogue sales alone brings in €40m, with radio royalties adding a further €10m.

Forbes reckons U2 to be the fifth most powerful entertainment phenomenon on the globe, and leader Bono (Paul Hewson) has been making as much noise off the stage as on it with his crusade to get rich countries to help poorer nations. Just before the weekend, Bono visited French President Jacques Chirac.

“I’m here because he (Chirac) has a passion for Africa and I want to turn that passion into cash,” Bono said, before going into the meeting at the imposing Elysée Palace.

Asked afterward if he had succeeded, Bono joked: “Well, he gave me 50 francs for the taxi.” But he quickly went on to say: “France has been generous but in the last years it’s gone down. He promised me they (the new French government) would reverse that trend, and I’m very happy about that.”