Eduardo Saverin Facebook co-founder renounces US citizenship, saves millions
Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin has given up his U.S. citizenship, records of the Internal Revenue Service state. The news was first reported in Bloomberg and comes on the heels of Facebook’s public offering of its stock this Friday.
Saverin is one of the four co-founders of Facebook. Following a falling off with Mark Zuckerberg, Saverin’s share in the company has fallen from the 34.4% from the early Facebook days to about 4% now.
Analysts claim that the move will save Saverin millions in taxes that he would owe in the US if he had a US citizenship. When he finally shifts to Singapore, where he is said to live a kingly life since 2009, he would enjoy lower tax benefits as US requires its citizens to pay taxes no matter where they live.
However, Tom Goodman, spokesman for Saverin said that the expatriation was done for logistical purposes, “not for tax reasons.” He also added that Saverin had moved to Singapore months ago.
Goodman added, “Eduardo recently found it to be more practical to become a resident of Singapore since he plans to live there for an indefinite period of time. He still has very strong ties to Brazil and is extremely passionate about not only his homeland, but also the U.S.”
The social network is expected to price its IPO on Thursday in a range it currently estimates at $28 and $35 per share.
Despite the apparent receiver of the shorter end of benefits among the four co-founders of Facebook, Savarin has led a kingly life. He was born with a silver spoon and happened to be one of the top on a gangster’s list of potential kidnapping targets at the age of 13. His parents got him to Miami from Brazil for his safety. He attended fance prep school educations and then met Zuckerberg in Harvard.
At 30, Saverin is more a mystery to most but he is more remembered as the critically acclaimed character played by Andrew Garfield played in Aaron Sorkin’s Facebook film “The Social Network.”
At Harvard, Saverin started showing his way in business and while still an undergraduate, he spied and took advantage of Brazil’s lax insider-trading rules to make $300,000 through strategic investments in the oil industry.
He was the major source of cash flow during the initial days of Facebook and he was the company’s first CFO.
Despite Goodman’s clarification’s Saverin’s move have incited reactions.
Mark Cuban, fellow tech-industry billionaire tweeted on hearing about Saverin’s decision, “This p*ss*s me off.”
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