The founder of Facebook became the owner of a billion-dollar fortune at 23 years old. Since then, Mr. Zuckerberg’s net worth has grown steadily.
Now Mark is ranked fifth in the list of the richest people on the planet. What path did an unknown programmer go through to become what he is now?
Family, school, life-changing hobby and Zuckerberg’s higher education
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg was born on May 14, 1984 to a Jewish family. His ancestors were from European countries. The Zuckerbergs lived in White Plains, New York. Mark’s parents are doctors: his father is a dentist and his mother is a psychiatrist. He has three sisters.
Mark has repeatedly said that he is “a hacker by vocation”. He took up programming at school. He had a wide range of interests: Latin, fencing, mathematics, psychology, ancient Greek. But the favorites were programs and computers.
In high school, he caught the attention of the giants Microsoft and AOL, who offered him a job. This happened thanks to the network version of the board game developed by the young Zuckerberg. But the self-taught programmer refused a promising job offer and preferred to study at Harvard. Although two years after entering the Faculty of Psychology, he left the university to devote himself to the cause of his life.
Mark Zuckerberg #4 on Facebook, the largest social network
To bring the project to mind, the guys needed money. The Brazilian Eduardo Saverin helped them financially. A few years later, a lawsuit will begin, during which Zuckerberg will challenge Saverin’s claims to participate in the management of the company.
When Mark realized how promising a resource he had created, the question arose about its promotion. The programmer was helped in this by Sean Parker, who brought Zuckerberg to the first investor, Peter Thiel.
The decisive breakthrough in the development of Facebook was Mark’s acquaintance with Yuri Milner, whose company DTS Group bought a small percentage of the shares of Zuckerberg’s business for $ 200 million.
Over the years, Mark has repeatedly been offered to sell the company, but he has consistently refused.
Zuckerberg has a page on his brainchild. Almost 93 million people subscribed to it. Mark is number 4 in the list of users. The first three are test users. In total, the social network has almost 2 billion people registered in it.
Diploma after 12 years, fortune in the world rankings and charity
In 2017, he completed what he abandoned for the sake of business: he received a diploma, which pleased his parents and inspired Harvard students.
What else can be said about today’s Mark Zuckerberg?
- His fortune is estimated at 62 billion dollars and is the fifth largest among all the personal capitals of the world.
- Owns a 24% stake in Facebook, but intends to sell almost the entire stake within a few years, and donate most of the funds to charity.
- In 2010, a film was made about him (The Social Network).
- Buffett and Gates philanthropic campaigner.
- Together with his wife Priscilla, he founded a charitable initiative in which he donates funds to fight various diseases.
Despite his wealth and incredible popularity, Zuckerberg remains a very modest citizen: he usually dresses, drives an inexpensive car and occasionally eats fast food.
Interesting facts about Zuckerberg
- He has an apartment where there is no Internet access, but there is a kettle and a minimum of furniture. He goes to this shelter when he wants to be alone and isolated from communications.
- Voiced himself in an episode of The Simpsons.
- Mark’s official salary is $1.
- Mark Zurerberg’s wife, Priscilla Chan, is an American philanthropist and pediatrician. The couple have a child – daughter Maxim Zuckerberg.
