Note: This is a bit different from the previous Bono/Prince article:

TWO public figures - one a member of Royalty, the other a member of rock royalty - have highlighted the dangers of conflating fame and investing acumen.

In London, Prince has seen his television production company, Ardent, fail spectacularly while rock legend Bono has been dubbed the worst investor in America after a series of notably bad bets by his investment company, Elevation Partners.

Prince once boasted that his TV company, Ardent, would be one of the best production companies in the industry.

Despite being regularly ridiculed in the British press for being a "useless Royal", he managed to convince investors, who ploughed £2.2 million ($3.6 million) into the company.

That investment is now virtually worthless, with financial records showing how much trouble Ardent was in when it went into liquidation last year.

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The company's millionaire backers have been left with just £40.27 ($66), The Mail on Sunday has reported.

Prince , himself, lost the £300,000 he used to start up the company in 1993.

The last return filed by Ardent in March 2008 shows it had been given a cash injection of £2,175,000 during its lifespan.

But on closing, it had just £1440.27 left in its bank accounts. The estimated cost of Ardent's liquidation was £1400, leaving just £40.27.

Most of Ardent's output was Royal in flavour, which led to complaints that Prince was trying to cash in on his family connections.

Good with a mic, shaky with his cash

On the other side of the world, financial blog 247wallst.com called Bono's Elevation Partners: "Arguably the worst-run institutional fund of any size in the United States."

The U2 frontman is a founding investor in the firm, The Sunday Times reports.

The firm's worst bet was taking a 25 per cent stake in smartphone maker Palm in 2007.

The company has been crushed by Apple and Blackberry and its shares, last year worth more than US$17 ($18.79), are now trading at around US$4.

Analysts say the firm is likely to fail or be sold for a song, The Sunday Times reports.

Elevation’s mission is to “help media and entertainment businesses develop and market great content, take advantage of new platforms and channels, and address demand in new geographies."

The firm has a glittering array of tech investors from big private-equity firms, The Sunday Times reports.

In another case, Elevation used US$100 million to buy 15 per cent of Move.com, the owner of a series of home and real-estate websites.

Since that 2005 investment, the website's shares have roughly halved.


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AF

you do realise that the article is about Prince Edward?

bbc radio 1 did an april fools joke years ago when they said Prince was going 2 b a guest on the breakfast show that morning, and all the paparazzi showed up, and the joke was that it was actually Prince Edward that showed up wearing a big Prince type hat.

laugh ?

i nearly did

alexandernevermind1999 said:

I remember that being reported on John Cravens Newsround

any pictures of it?

muirdo said:

i think i have some clippings and pics from the 'prank' somewhere... will get back 2 u

Oooooh...take out the word "the" in front of Prince. Clever.

alexandernevermind1999 said:

[img]

As mentioned, as funny as tooth-ache.

alexandernevermind1999 said:

lol

thanks for posting that.

y'know he's gay, right?

So, this joke stays and mine is gone?

It's the April Fool joke

This shit needss to be locked!!!

NastradumasKid said:

really - I will post something here about Wendy and Lisa - if it is from me, that will get it locked for sure...

Brofie said:

Favortism...

babynoz said:

AF = April Fools!

Someone had to do one.