(Photo: Riccardo S. Savi/Getty Images North America)

By Tom Lyons

Dropbox, the Californian technology firm backed by Bono and the Edge, hopes to double its Dublin staff numbers to close to 100 by 2014.

The data storage company, which has 100 million users worldwide, will focus its initial 40 hires on technical sales and support but Mitra Lohrasbpour, its head of European operations, said: “Our long- term goal is much grander than that.”

“We will branch out into regional marketing and regional partnerships and potentially some policy and legal work,” she added.

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Copyright 2012 U2 France / http://www.u2france.com/actu

WHEN Bono and the rest of U2 were starting out in a band that may have ended as quickly as it started, it is unlikely that investing in trendy media and technology companies was on the radar for them.

Cut to today, and the U2 frontman is one of the highest profile investors in tech. His investment firm Elevation Partners may have a mixed track record – phone maker Palm and Forbes Media had notable issues – but it redeemed itself spectacularly with its punt on Facebook.

The company cashed out shares worth $275m (€210m) when Facebook went public and has retained a stake worth hundreds of millions.

When Bono and The Edge invested in Dropbox it was a nice story in itself, but it’s a lot more serious now that the company has decided to set up shop here, creating 40 jobs in the process. The firm was quick to highlight Bono and The Edge’s efforts to persuade it to come here.

Bono gets a lot of stick for being “more than a rock star”, but in this case at least we should be thankful for his efforts.

The Government and IDA work hard to get investment here, but sometimes it helps to have one of the biggest names in the world fighting your corner as well.

Copyright 2012 U2 France / http://www.u2france.com/actu

By Andrea Dudik

U2′s Bono, The Edge, Sting, Peter Gabriel and Yoko Ono paid 1.5 million koruna ($75,500) for a tapestry dedicated to late Czech President Vaclav Havel, CTK news agency reported.

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Copyright 2012 U2 France / http://www.u2france.com/actu

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