Bono has dismissed reports that he is now the richest musician in the world.

The U2 frontman, who owns a 2.3% share in Facebook through his private equity firm, Elevation Partners, was rumoured to be now worth over $1.5 billion following the social networking site’s debut on the stock exchange yesterday.

But the 52-year-old told MSNBC that claims he has overtaken Paul McCartney as the world’s wealthiest rock star were untrue: “Contrary to reports, I'm not a billionaire or going to be richer than any Beatle - and not just in the sense of money, by the way, The Beatles are untouchable - those billionaire reports are a joke.”

The Irish star, whose band were the highest grossing touring act of 2011, went onto reveal that his decision to invest in Facebook was inspired by his love of technology:

“I got interested in technology because I'm an artist… Technology is huge, I wanted to learn about it. People might say that's odd, but I think it's odd if artists aren't interested in the world around them. I'm always chasing that.

“Facebook are an amazing team, a brilliant team, it's a technology that brings people together."