Graffiti Artist Paid in Facebook Shares Instead of Cash in Line for £126m Flotation Windfall
A graffiti artist hired by Facebook seven years ago is set to pocket £126million - after he opted to be paid in shares rather than cash.
David Choe, 35, was asked to paint murals on the walls of the fledgling firm’s offices in Palo Alto, California, in 2005.
Then president Sean Parker offered him the choice of a few thousand dollars - or a share stake in the business.
The art school drop-out is said to have dismissed Facebook at the time as “ridiculous and pointless” - but opted for the stock anyway.
And it was the smartest decision he ever made, with the shares expected to be worth £126million - or $200millon - when Facebook goes public later this year.
David is one of more than 1,000 workers and former employees set to become overnight millionaires when the social networking giant is floated.
The £3.2billion -$5billion - initial public offering, as it is known, is set to be the biggest technology stock market debut in history, valuing the company at up to £60billion and putting it on a par with fast food giant McDonald’s.
The biggest winner will be co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, who will end up with a stake worth nearly £18billion. Others in the money include co-founders Dustin Moskovitz, 27, who will get around £2.2billion of shares and Eduardo Saverin, £1.3billion.
Napster online music tycoon and early investor Mr Parker is in line for a similar amount from his stake.
U2 star Bono is also expected to be quids in. His venture capital firm, Elevation Partners, is said to have invested £76million in the business in 2010.
According to documents filed on Tuesday night, Mr Zuckerberg’s father, a New York dentist, will be extracting a fair bit too after being awarded a chunk of stock.
David Choe’s designs at Facebook HQ have netted him £126million
It’s also good news for Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss - the Olympic rowing pair whose dispute with Zuckerberg over who originally came up with the idea for Facebook was the feature of hit film The Social Network.
They accepted a £12.6million settlement and Facebook stock that could now be worth more than £95million.