Mark Zuckerberg Quick Info | |
---|---|
Height | 5 ft 7½ in |
Weight | 66 kg |
Date of Birth | May 14, 1984 |
Zodiac Sign | Taurus |
Spouse | Priscilla Chan |
Mark Zuckerberg is an American media magnate, internet entrepreneur, and philanthropist who is best known for co-founding Facebook, Inc. and has served as its chairman, chief executive officer, and controlling shareholder. Along with his college roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, he launched the Facebook social networking service from his dormitory room on February 4, 2004, and became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire in 2007 when he was just 23 years old. He was first named as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2008 and has since been frequently included in the list. Forbes placed him on number #10 in its list of “The World’s Most Powerful People” in December 2016. As of March 2021, Zuckerberg’s net worth was $103.6 billion, making him the 5th-richest person in the world.
Born Name
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg
Nick Name
Zuck
Sun Sign
Taurus
Born Place
White Plains, New York, United States
Residence
Zuckerberg lives with his wife in a lavish house in Palo Alto. He also owns a 700-acre waterfront property on the island of Kauai in Hawaii.
Nationality
Education
Mark Zuckerberg went to the Ardsley High School. In his junior year, he transferred to the private school Phillips Exeter Academy. While still in high school, he took a graduate-level programming course at Mercy College.
After graduating from high school, he got enrolled at Harvard University to study psychology and computer science. However, he dropped out without graduating as he sought to focus on Facebook.
In his youth, he was also enrolled in the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth summer camp.
Occupation
Internet entrepreneur and computer programmer
Family
- Father – Edward Zuckerberg (Dentist)
- Mother – Karen Zuckerberg (Psychiatrist)
- Siblings – Randi Zuckerberg (Older Sister) (Businesswoman and spokesperson and former Director of Market Development for Facebook), Donna Zuckerberg (Sister), Arielle Zuckerberg (Sister)
- Others – Jack Zuckerberg (Paternal Grandfather), Miriam Holländer (Paternal Grandmother), Sidney G. Kempner (Maternal Grandfather), Gertrude Silver (Paternal Grandmother)
Manager
Mark Zuckerberg’s representation work is handled by his personal management team.
Net Worth
In late November 2023, Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth was over $120 billion as per Forbes magazine.
Build
Slim
Height
5 ft 7½ in or 171 cm
Weight
66 kg or 145.5 lbs
Girlfriend / Spouse
Mark Zuckerberg has dated –
- Priscilla Chan (2003-Present) – Mark Zuckerberg started going out with Priscilla Chan in 2003. He had met her in his sophomore year at Harvard University at a fraternity party. In September 2010, he asked Chan, who was at that time enrolled in a medical course at the University of California, San Francisco, to move in with him. In May 2012, they got married in a private ceremony. In July 2015, he announced that they were expecting their first child. He also revealed that Chan had suffered three heartbreaking miscarriages. In December, he revealed that his wife had given birth to a baby girl, Maxima Chan Zuckerberg. In August 2017, she gave birth to their second daughter named August. In September 2022, it was revealed that they were expecting their 3rd child together, a baby girl. In March 2023, they welcomed their 3rd daughter named Aurelia Chan Zuckerberg.
Race / Ethnicity
White
He has Polish, Austrian, and German ancestry.
Hair Color
Blonde
Eye Color
Blue
Sexual Orientation
Straight
Distinctive Features
- Curly hair
- Blue eyes
Brand Endorsements
Mark Zuckerberg has appeared in a social cause TV advert for Code.org to raise awareness about child advocacy and education. The other heavyweights featured in the advert were Bill Gates, Chris Bosh, and Drew Houston.
Religion
He was raised by his parents as a Jewish and even had Bar Mitzvah at the age of 13.
However, as an adult, he later identified himself as an atheist. He later made another U-turn by insisting that he believes religion is very important. He has also leaned towards Buddhism and has met Pope Francis as well.
Best Known For
- Being the co-founder of the social media phenomena, Facebook. He serves as a chief executive officer and chairman of the company.
- Being one of the richest men in the world with his net worth amounting to more than $72 billion as of February 2018.
First TV Show
In September 2010, Mark Zuckerberg made his first TV show appearance as himself in the popular talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Personal Trainer
Mark Zuckerberg makes an effort to find time for exercise in his packed schedule as he believes working out gives him more energy.
Overall, he aims to work out at least three times a week. His preferred time for a workout is in the morning. Also, he occasionally heads out for a run with his pet dog.
However, when it comes to diet, he is not very choosy and eats whatever he feels like. He doesn’t like wasting his time on deciding small things such as what to eat.
Mark Zuckerberg Favorite Things
- Books – The Muqaddimah by Ibn Khaldun, The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, Why Nations Fail by Daren Acemoglu and James Robinson, The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley, Portfolios of the Poor by Daryl Collins, Jonathan Morduch, Stuart Rutherford, and Orlanda Ruthven, and many others
Source – Business Insider
Mark Zuckerberg Facts
- While he was in his senior year in high school, he and Adam D’Angelo created an app called Synapse Media Player, which was essentially an mp3 player that kept a record of users’ favorite songs and created playlists based on those choices.
- Microsoft attempted to acquire Synapse Media Player and employ the creators of the app. However, Zuckerberg and D’Angelo decided to patent their creation and pursue college studies.
- He started inventing at a very young age and by the age of 12, he had created an instant messaging app known as ZuckNet, which informed his dentist father when the patients arrived at his clinic.
- They decided to pick a blue color for the logo of Facebook because of Zuckerberg’s red and green color blindness.
- Over the years, he has received offers from Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, NBC, Viacom, and NewsCorp to acquire Facebook. He rejected all of those offers out of hand.
- While in high school, he was the captain of the fencing team.
- When he got enrolled in college, he could read and write ancient Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and French along with English. He has been trying to add Mandarin to that list.
- While at Harvard University, he was a member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. Also, he lived in Kirkland House at the university.
- In his sophomore year at the university, he created a program called CourseMatch, which helped users make decisions about classes based on the choices made by other students. It also helped them organize study groups.
- The predecessor of Facebook was a program called Facemash, which allowed students to select the best-looking person from a host of photos. The site went live on the weekend but was shut down by Monday as its popularity led to the overwhelming of Harvard’s network, which prevented students from accessing the internet.
- In February 2004, he officially launched Facebook from his dormitory room. He and Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz moved out of Harvard and leased a small house in Palo Alto, which served as the first official headquarter of Facebook.
- Shortly after the launch of Facebook, three Harvard seniors, Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra filed a lawsuit against Zuckerberg alleging that he had joined their project and used their ideas to build a rival project in the form of Facebook.
- He eventually reached a settlement with them and awarded them 1.2 million Facebook shares, which were worth $300 million at the time of Facebook’s IPO.
- He was awarded a “Medal of Fear” by Stephen Colbert at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear on October 30, 2010, “because he values his privacy much more than he values yours”.
- In June 2010, Pakistani Deputy Attorney General Muhammad Azhar Sidiqque started an investigation against Zuckerberg and other Facebook co-founders because of ‘Draw Muhammad’ contest held on Facebook. Pakistan also temporarily blocked Facebook until they took the contest down.
- He was portrayed by actor Jesse Eisenberg in the 2010 biographical drama film, The Social Network. The film was a huge success and won the 68th Golden Globe Awards for “Best Motion Picture – Drama”, “Best Director”, “Best Screenplay”, and “Best Original Score” as well as received 8 nominations at the 83rd Academy Awards.
- In September 2010, it was revealed that he had made a donation of $100 million to Newark Public Schools. He was accused of using the donation for the promotion of his movie, The Social Network.
- He responded to movie promotion allegations by revealing that he intended to make an anonymous donation. Newark Mayor Cory Booker corroborated Zuckerberg’s claims by revealing that he and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie had convinced him to do otherwise.
- In December 2010, he signed The Giving Pledge along with Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. As part of the pledge, he promised to donate at least half of his wealth during his lifetime.
- In December 2013, he announced that 18 million Facebook shares would be donated to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation by the end of the month. As per the market valuation of that time, it amounted to about $990 million.
- In October 2014, he and his wife made a donation of $25 million to combat the ravage of the Ebola virus disease in West Africa.
- He and his wife have established their charitable foundation under the label of Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Instead of setting it up as a charitable corporation, they have structured it as a limited liability company, which drew criticism from a number of journalists.
- Although he has never publicly revealed his political views, it is safe to say that he is not a fan of US President Donald Trump. He publicly blasted him in 2017 for his restrictions on immigration.
- In January 2021, after the US Capitol riots in Washington D.C., he banned then-President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts for 24 hours after which the ban was extended indefinitely.
- In 2020, more than $23 million was spent on the security of Mark Zuckerberg and his family.
- In May 2021, Mark had spent $53 million to buy 600 acres of land in Hawaii. Earlier also, he had purchased some land there. Hence, with this purchase, his total holding there became over 1300 acres. In December 2021, Mark purchased another 110 acres of land for $17 million. With this, his total holdings on the Kauai’s north shore became 1,500 acres. He has nicknamed this Ko’olau Ranch.
- In 2021, Mark revealed that he had 2 pet goats named Max and Bitcoin.
- In October 2021, he announced Facebook had changed its parent company name to “Meta”.
- On February 3, 2022, Facebook’s parent Meta’s shares had dropped by $230 billion in value which affected Mark Zuckerberg’s own net worth by over $30 billion. He had dropped to #12 in the richest billionaires list with $84.8 billion net worth as per Forbes.
- In the first half of 2022 (until June 2022 end), Zuckerberg’s net worth had declined by more than half to $60 billion.
- On July 1, 2022, Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan sold their San Francisco home for $31 million which they had purchased for under $10 million in 2012 (nearly 10 years back from the sell date).
- In May 2023, Mark completed the Murph workout challenge in 39 minutes and 58 seconds. The goal is to complete the entire workout in under 40 minutes by running for 1 mile, doing 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 squats, and finally 1 more mile of running – all this while wearing a 20 lbs or 9 kg vest.
- In July 2023, Elon Musk threatened to sue Mark‘s company Meta after the launch of the company’s social media platform, Threads. He had claimed that the company had used Twitter’s trade secrets by ‘hiring dozens of former employees of the app’.
- In July 2023, Mark was awarded a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
- In November 2023, Mark tore his ACL while preparing for a competitive MMA fight. He was hospitalized where he underwent knee surgery.
Featured Image by Brian Solis / Flickr / CC BY 2.0