U2’s Bono finds
what he's looking for

updated 5:56 p.m. ET June 15, 2004

MENLO PARK, Calif. - Bono, lead singer for rock band U2, has joined a Silicon Valley venture capital firm that plans to invest in media and entertainment projects, according to a published report.

The 44-year-old singer is joining the newly created Elevation Partners, based in Menlo Park, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. The new venture aims to raise $1 billion.

The venture fund was launched by technology investor Roger McNamee and John Riccitiello, former president of videogame maker Electronic Arts Inc. The venture also includes Fred Anderson, who retired this month as Apple Computer Inc.’s finance chief.

Elevation Partners declined to comment, citing Securities and Exchange Commission rules for venture capital firms in the midst of fundraising, according to the newspaper.

The Ireland-based U2 has been one of the most popular rock bands in the world since its founding in the late 1970s.

With funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, George Soro’s Open Society Institute and the Enter for Global Development, Bono co-founded Debt AIDS Trade Africa, which works with religious groups concerned with global disease and hunger issues.

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