David Choe, who first spray-painted the walls of Facebook HQ in 2005, accepted shares in payment for his work.

Now the site is planning to float on the stock market, its thought his share could be worth around $200m (£126m).

Writing on his blog, Choe said he was the “highest paid decorator alive”.

Although he had initially thought the idea of the social network was “ridiculous and pointless”, the artist decided to take the stock option instead of cash “in the thousands of dollars” according to the New York Times.

Choe’s payout could be worth more money than auction house Sotheby’s attracted for its record-breaking $200.7m (£127m) sale in 2008 for a collection of work by Damien Hirst.

The Korean-American artist, 35, was first asked to paint erotic murals for Facebook’s first office in Palo Alto, California, by the site’s then-president, Sean Parker.

The site’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, later asked Choe to paint “tamer” art for its second office in 2007.

However art from the original headquarters was cut out from the walls and is on display at other Facebook offices around the world.

Choe – whose work can now be seen in galleries all over the world – is currently painting the site’s new offices in Menlo Park, California.

The artist, who began spray-painting in his teens, created the cover art for Jay-Z and Linkin Park’s multi-platinum album Collision Course in 2004.

In 2008, he also painted a portrait of the then-Senator Barack Obama – a picture that now hangs in the White House.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16871764 ]]> http://gmgroup.uk.com/gmg-team/feed/ 0 http://gmgroup.uk.com/week-5-annual-rspb-bird-census/ http://gmgroup.uk.com/week-5-annual-rspb-bird-census/#comments Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:54:49 +0000 gmg http://gmgroup.uk.com/?p=1645 http://gmgroup.uk.com/week-5-annual-rspb-bird-census/feed/ 0 http://gmgroup.uk.com/review-of-the-year-a-testing-time-for-the-sector/ http://gmgroup.uk.com/review-of-the-year-a-testing-time-for-the-sector/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:47:14 +0000 gmg http://gmgroup.uk.com/?p=1692 For many charities, the year has been shaped by difficult economic conditions and controversial government policies. David Ainsworth rounds up the key events and memorable stories
SHRINKING PUBLIC FUNDS
After the comprehensive spending review in October 2010, the cuts began in earnest in 2011. The sector quangos Capacitybuilders and the Commission for the Compact closed in March and the Office for Civil Society’s strategic partners programme was pruned from £12.2m last year to £4m this year and will cease in 2014. A Third Sector survey suggested that councils were chopping a fifth from voluntary sector budgets.
There was a 5 per cent drop in the size of the workforce in the year to the end of June, ending more than a decade of continuous growth, according to the NCVO. It also estimated that charities would lose £2.8bn in public sector income over the next five years (from a total of £12.8bn in 2007/08). The Budget brought the end of transitional relief on Gift Aid donations, which – coupled with the rise in VAT to 20 per cent in January – was predicted to cost the sector an extra £250m a year.
Nick Hurd, the Minister for Civil Society, launched various funds to help charities, including the £107m Transition Fund, the Community First match fund and Transforming Local Infrastructure. But OCS spending on the sector is due to fall by 61 per cent to £74m over the next three years.
The Work Programme, run by the Department for Work and Pensions, was billed as a way for the sector to increase its share of government contracts. But it did less well than expected, criticism is rife and political arguments continue.
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