Born Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof on 6 October 1951, in Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin, Ireland, Bob Geldof has been active in his career as a political activist, singer and author since 1975. Geldof is also a talented songwriter and sometimes works as an actor, but it was for his charitable works that Bob Geldof received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II.
How rich is Bob Geldof? Since Geldof has been occupied with so many activities, it is not surprising that Bob has managed to accumulate a net worth estimated by sources at $150 million.
Bob Geldof Net Worth $150 Million
Bob Geldof is of Belgian and English-Jewish ancestry. His mother, Evelyn died of a cerebral haemorrhage when he was six. Bob went to Blackrock College, where apparently he was bullied for being a poor rugby player and for his middle name, Zenon. After school Bob had short-term jobs as a slaughterman, a road builder and in a cannery, until he secured a job as a music journalist in Canada. He also hosted the TV children’s program Switchback for a short time.
Bob Geldof first came into prominence with the new wave, punk rock and alternative rock band The Boomtown Rats, founded in 1975, of which Bob was the lead singer. Other members included Pete Briquette, Garry Roberts, Gerry Cott, Johnnie Fingers, and Simon Crowe. The band actually disbanded in 1985, but reformed 2013, and is currently still active. The Boomtown Rats released six studio albums, including A Tonic for the Troops (1978), Mondo Bongo (1981), and In the Long Grass (1984). Many of the band`s singles entered into UK Top 40, so certainly revenues from The Boomtown Rats enlarged Bob Geldof net worth considerably.
Other activities which have made Bob Geldof”s net worth increase include his collaboration in co-writing Do They Know It`s Christmas?, a work for charity which later became one of the best-selling singles. Moreover, Bob contributed to the production of such songs as Rat Trap and I Don`t Like Mondays. In 1982, Bob Geldof showed up on Pink Floyd`s movie which was entitled as Pink Floyd – The Wall.
Bob Geldof became interested in the poor regions of Africa, and in 1984, he helped to found the charity group Band Aid, specifically to assist in relieving the famine in Ethiopia. Band Aid also organized charity projects, such as concerts Live Aid and Live 8. It is known that Live Aid raised £150 million for famine relief. Live 8 appeared in such cities as Rome, Berlin, Paris, Philadelphia, Moscow, and Edinburgh among others.
Actually, Bob Geldof’s net worth increased considerably when he started a business career. Bob is a co-owner of the production company Planet 24 in 1992, which is best known for producing such television shows as The Word and The Big Breakfast. In collaboration with Alex Connock, Geldof founded another production company called Ten Alps. Since 2002, Bob has also been a co-chairman of Groupcall which is a company that provides communication tools for education, saying for example that the population in Arab countries would stabilise if women were more educated, then they would have fewer children.
In his personal life, Bob Geldof and Paula Yates were together from 1976, marrying in 1986 and divorcing in 1996 – they had three daughters, of whom Peaches died of a drug overdose in 2014 as had her mother in 2000. Bob now lives with Jeanne Marine in London.
I’m glad it all worked out for him financially because he gave all his time, energy, and money into charities invokved with world hunger etc… I recall reading a number of years ago that he was flat broke and just about bankrupt. I give him credit because he didn’t just talk the talk like so many of his peers, he walked the walk and put his money where his mouth is by helping everyone but himself. The man is a class act.