Almost everyone has heard of Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of the massively popular social network, Facebook. As a matter of fact, practically everyone in the world with internet access is on Facebook. This game-changing social media site launched the Harvard dropout to billionaire status before his 30th birthday. Currently, at age 32, Zuckerberg’s net worth is $54.5 billion. He has consistently been named among the world’s 100 wealthiest and most influential people. He currently ranks as the 5th wealthiest person in the world.
Facebook was originally created by Zuckerberg and fellow students at Harvard, and launched from their dorm. Less than 10 years later, in 2012, the social media site boasted 1 billion members. The New York native starting writing software at a very young age while still in middle school, including building a primitive version of AOL Instant Messenger a year before it was released, which was called “ZuckNet” and was used to communicate between his father’s dentist office and the house. He was widely considered a programming prodigy.
The creation of Facebook from the Harvard dorms and the legal battles that ensued were featured in the 2010 movie, “The Social Network”. It was originally a Harvard only network, and was later introduced to other universities, like Columbia, NYU, Cornell, and Yale. In 2004, Zuckerberg and the other co-founders packed up and moved to California, where they bought their first office. Apparently, they had intended to go back to Harvard, but ended up dropping out.
Today, Facebook has over 1.65 active users each month, and the company’s revenue last year totaled nearly $18 billion. The total assets of the company are at $49.4 billion, and Zuckerberg himself is 53% owner in the company, as well as being CEO and chairman. He lives in Palo Alto, CA with his wife, Priscilla Chan, and their daughter Maxima.
