Could a reported $3.84 Billion stake in Facebook be the motivating force behind Brazilian Eduardo Saverin renunciation of his U.S. citizenship?

The co-founder of Facebook has reportedly renounced his citizenship and confirmed his residency in Singapore where there is no capital gains tax.  The timing of this decision coincidences with Facebook’s IPO though Saverin has been living in Singapore since 2010.

Saverin,30, who was born in Brazil and met Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard in their junior year, was the funding part of the successful social network.  Zuckerberg’s ideas and Saverin’s family money got Facebook going.  That investment got him originally a 34% stake that was diluted to a 2% to 4% stake.  It is estimated when Facebook goes public later this month that stake would price out at $3.84 Billion for Saverin; the entire IPO has an estimated value of $96 billion.

Saverin’s spokesman chalked up the decision as a “practical one” since Saverin plans on living in Singapore for an indefinite period.  Saverin and his family came to the U.S. in 1992 to Miami when he was ten and six years later became a citizen.