Mark Zuckerberg is widely known as the founder, CEO, and chairman of the board for Meta, the tech giant that owns popular social media platforms Facebook and Instagram. Zuckerberg’s journey began with Facebook, which he co-founded with friends while studying at Harvard University. Two decades later, this social network boasts over three billion users, and Zuckerberg has amassed an enormous fortune. Dive deeper into his life story on newyork1.one.
Early Life and Education
Mark Zuckerberg was born in White Plains, New York, on May 14, 1984. His family came from an intellectual Jewish background; his mother worked as a psychologist, and his father was a dentist. Besides Mark, the family also had three daughters.
From childhood, Mark was captivated by electronics. His father encouraged his interest, buying him a computer when Mark was just nine years old. Mark also loved learning. In elementary school, he was known as a “nerd.” After graduating from Ardsley High School, he enrolled in the exclusive Phillips Exeter Academy. There, he delved into mathematics, natural sciences, and foreign languages. In his free time, he practiced fencing and even became the captain of the school’s fencing team.
His senior project was an application called “Synapse Media Player.” This software could track a user’s favorite songs, analyze them, and create personalized playlists. Microsoft even offered a substantial sum to buy this invention, but Mark declined, instead making his creation freely available on the internet for everyone.
In 2002, Zuckerberg enrolled in Harvard University’s psychology department. This choice might have been influenced by his mother, despite Mark’s exceptional mathematical abilities. Nevertheless, he continued to develop his IT skills and took programming courses to hone them
Mark Zuckerberg and Programming
Mark Zuckerberg had a knack for programming from a young age. Besides “Synapse Media Player,” which was mentioned earlier, he created an instant messaging application called “ZuckNet” at just 12 years old. Mark’s father appreciated this program and began using it to communicate with his patients.
In 2003, while at Harvard, Zuckerberg decided to create a ranking of popular female students. To do this, he notoriously hacked into the university’s database, downloaded photos, and launched a web portal called “Facemash.” Anyone could view the photos and rate them on a special scale. Within hours, the photos were viewed over 20,000 times. However, Mark had to shut down the site because his project caused a scandal among female students and university administration.
At the same time, this incident led to Zuckerberg meeting upperclassmen who were developing a social network called “HarvardConnection.com.” They needed a talented programmer, and Mark was initially intrigued by the idea but quickly left the group. Instead, he began working on his own social network, “Thefacebook.com,” and introduced it to the student community on February 4, 2004.
Facebook: The Story of a Megapopular Social Network
Mark Zuckerberg collaborated with Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes, and Eduardo Saverin on the creation of Facebook. In a relatively short time, they managed to build a highly popular product that deeply interested Harvard students.
Within the first month of the platform’s launch, over half of the university’s students registered. This success inspired the group to continue their work, and Mark Zuckerberg decided to drop out of college and invest all the money his parents had saved for him into the project’s development.
He purchased servers and moved to Silicon Valley. Meanwhile, the social network’s audience grew rapidly. It began transforming into a massive platform for people to connect from all corners of the globe. Within its first year, Facebook garnered one million users.
The social network started generating profits for its creators in 2007. That year, Microsoft acquired a 1.6% stake in Facebook, paying $240 million for it. Interestingly, analysts considered this amount inflated and deemed the project unpromising. But Mark Zuckerberg paid no mind to critics or experts. He continued to refine his creation, adding new features and improving existing ones.
In 2012, Facebook’s shares were listed on the stock exchange. At that time, its creator’s fortune was estimated by Forbes at $17.5 billion. His wealth continued to grow, occasionally seeing dips but always reaching new stages of development. Mark Zuckerberg became the youngest self-made dollar billionaire in modern history. He continues to lead the world’s largest social platforms with billions of users, namely Facebook, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram.
How Mark Zuckerberg Lives
Mark Zuckerberg met his future wife, Priscilla Chan, during his sophomore year at Harvard University. When Mark left college and moved to California, Priscilla chose not to go with him, wanting to finish her degree. Their relationship continued long-distance, and in 2010, Chan joined her beloved in Palo Alto.
In May 2012, the couple held a modest wedding ceremony. They hosted it at their home and didn’t even tell their guests it would be a wedding. Since then, the couple has had three daughters.
Unlike many other wealthy individuals, Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t flaunt his income. Every day, he wears simple gray t-shirts, hoodies, and jeans. However, these seemingly understated clothes are from premium brands, making them far more expensive than they appear at first glance. The famous businessman’s biggest annual expenses are security firm services and flights on a rented private jet.
Mark opts for mid-range cars. He owns an Acura TSX and a Honda Fit, as well as a 2014 Volkswagen Golf GTI. Zuckerberg does possess more expensive vehicles, such as a Pagani Huayra sports car, which costs 1 million euros and was custom-built as a one-off. However, the programmer rarely uses this car.
The Zuckerberg family invests heavily in real estate. In 2011, they bought a 4,844-square-foot house in Palo Alto for $7 million. After getting married, the couple bought several houses around their home. They also own a luxurious townhouse in San Francisco. In 2016, Zuckerberg acquired 370 acres of land and 400 acres of beachfront property on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. He also owns 600 feet of shoreline on Lake Tahoe.
The renowned entrepreneur is also involved in philanthropy. In 2016, together with his wife, he announced the launch of a project called “Chan Zuckerberg Science” within the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Its main goal is to combat various diseases. Over $3 billion is planned to be spent on scientific research over 10 years.
Mark Zuckerberg’s persona is quite controversial, as many now speak about the harm of social media, especially for children and teenagers. Scandals periodically erupt around his creations. However, social networks have become so popular and commonplace that it’s hard to imagine users massively abandoning them. This forms the basis of the programmer and businessman’s success, as he managed to create a unique product and change our daily lives.