The Facebook initial public offering is set
to smash records for the most money ever raised in an initial share
issue.
It might also set the record for the most lucrative artwork in
history.
Grafitti artist David Choe, 35, is set to cash in to the tune of
some $200 million -- the estimated value of the Facebook shares
he took in payment for some murals he created at Facebook's
first headquarters in 2005.
According to The New York Times, Choe chose to take stock options
in the fledgling company instead of his usual fee of a few thousand
dollars, even though he thought at the time that the idea of Facebook
was "ridiculous and pointless."
According to the report he received between 0.1 percent and 0.25
percent of the company in return for his artistic input. If Facebook
goes public at the $l00 billion valuation that many analysts
are predicting, Choe's payment would be worth around $200 million, the report said.
Currently, the most expensive painting in the world is a Jackson
Pollock work, which went for $140 million at Sotheby's in
2006. Controversial British conceptual artist Damien Hirst set the
record for a single artist auction with a $200 million sale at
Sotheby's in September 2008.
Choe was far from a struggling artist even before his Facebook
bonanza, and one of his portraits of President Obama
reportedly hangs in the White House. Despite a rough childhood in Los
Angeles, the Korean-American artist has works in major museums and is
described as "very successful."
Choe has kept up contact with Facebook since that first fateful
encounter and recently paid a visit to the company's new
headquarters.
Videos released by the social-networking company show him roaming
the complex's white corridors and spray painting graffiti murals on
the walls. One video even shows him collaborating with Facebook
founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg on a wall painting.
Choe has not issued any comment on his windfall and appeared to
have deleted dozens of congratulatory comments that appeared
initially on his Facebook page.
