U2 frontman Bono will become the richest musician in the world tomorrow (May 18), overtaking Paul McCartney.

Facebook is set to float on the stock exchange tomorrow and all its early investors are set to earn huge amounts of money from the flotation, with the Irish singer among them.

The U2 singer owns 2.3 per cent of the shares in Facebook through his private equity firm, Elevation Partners, which they bought for $90 million (£57 million) in 2009 and now stands to make a handsome return.

Given the social media company is currently valued at over $100 billion, this makes Bono’s share worth over $1.5 billion (£940 million) and puts him well above Paul McCartney, who is currently the world’s richest rock star with a fortune of £665 million.

U2 are rumoured to be working on new material with One Direction‘s songwriters, according to reports, with Swedish pop svengali Carl Falk, who penned the boyband’s ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ reportedly on board.

A source said of this: “The band are back in the studio getting a feel for new material after the last album ‘No Line On The Horizon’. Will.i.am had a credit on that and they are looking to explore that direction further. They have been working with Danger Mouse and RedOne. They are excited about getting to work with Carl Falk.” –NME