Celebrities

Graffiti artist paid in Facebook stock sells it for eye-watering amount

  • In 2005, David Choe accepted an offer from Facebook which, back then, was just a two-bit start up
  • Choe painted the whole Facebook HQ in Silicon Valley and he accepted stock as a form of payment
  • Choe became a multi-millionaire and, if he hadn’t sold, he’d be a billionaire

Published on Dec 24, 2023 at 3:03 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis

Last updated on Dec 27, 2023 at 9:27 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by Alessandro Renesis

David Choe is a multi-millionaire who made a fortune because he said yes to an offer most people would’ve turned down.

In a way, you could call him a (very, very) early Facebook adopter.

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David Choe was an accomplished graffiti artist from Los Angeles when a company he’d never heard of, called ‘Facebook’, got in touch with him.

It was 2005, and Facebook, back then it was still called ‘The Facebook’, was trying to compete with MySpace.

In an episode of CNBC’s The Filthy Rich Guide, he explained how Facebook’s wanted to revamp the company’s HQ in Silicon Valley with some murals.

Napster founder Sean Parker, who was running Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg at the time, knew of Choe and asked him to paint pretty much the entire building.

Choe agreed to paint the entire building for $60,000, which was a good chunk of money back then.

Then two totally amazing and wild things happened.

First, Parker said the company was prepared to pay him $60,000 in cash or Facebook stock.

Which must’ve sounded mad at the time because Facebook was a small two-bit start up in 2005.

Second, Choe opted to be paid in stock options.

When Facebook went public in 2012, at $38 a share, Choe became a multi-millionaire overnight.

His stock options were worth $200 million.

David Choe
David Choe / Instagram
David Choe
David Choe / Instagram

After selling most of his Facebook stock, Choe kept focusing on his art, and he also launched a podcast.

For the record, the price of Facebook stock has never stopped growing despite the company’s botched attempt (at least for now) at rebranding to Meta.

Today, it is valued at $350 per share.

So, if he hadn’t sold, Choe would now be a billionaire.

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Experienced content creator with a strong focus on cars and watches. Alessandro penned the first-ever post on the Supercar Blondie website and covers cars, watches, yachts, real estate and crypto. Former DriveTribe writer, fixed gear bike owner, obsessed with ducks for some reason.