Mark Zuckerberg... This name is known to almost every person who has access to the Internet. Who is he? Programmer, businessman, philanthropist, family man and just a good guy who, at his relatively young age, achieved what many have been achieving for decades. This article will tell the biography of Mark Zuckerberg, the success story of his brainchild called Facebook, as well as Interesting Facts from his personal life.
early years
The future billionaire was born on May 14, 1984 in the American city of White Plains, into a family of doctors. In his family, Mark was far from the only child. He also has three sisters: Randi, Donna and Ariel.
At the age of 10, young Mark Zuckerberg realized that he wanted to devote his life to programming. It was at this age that his parents bought him his first computer, on which he subsequently spent days on end. At first he wrote rather primitive programs, but over time his skills began to improve.
First successes
In high school, Zuckerberg created his own strategy game called “Risk,” and even then he was noticed by representatives of Microsoft, who offered him to work for them. Due to the fact that Mark was underage and had not yet graduated from high school, the deal never materialized.
The next project of the future co-creator of Facebook was the Synapse program, which he wrote with his friend. This software worked on the basis of the Winamp audio player. It analyzed the musical tastes of listeners and showed a selection of similar compositions.
Studying at Harvard
This may surprise some, but programming was far from Mark’s only hobby. At the time of entering higher education, he was engaged in fencing, studied ancient languages, and also devoted a lot of time to mathematics. Oddly enough, he decided to enroll in the psychology department at Harvard. It was at this university that Zuckerberg began his path to success.
Creation of Facebook
While studying at Harvard, Mark Zuckerberg came up with the idea of creating a website where students could communicate online. It is clear that it is very problematic to create such a large-scale project alone, so he enlisted the support of his comrades Dustin Moskowitz, Andrew McCollum and Chris Hughes. Soon they were joined by who sponsored this project. After some time, a conflict arose with the latter, which was resolved only in the courtroom.
The main reason for Facebook's popularity is its convenience. Students could organize themselves into groups and areas that already existed in their educational institutions. They had the opportunity to add their photos and any personal information - from favorite hobbies to love preferences. Mark Zuckerberg's company notes two main differences between Facebook and other popular social networks. Firstly, here real people are looking for exactly the same people. Secondly, on this site you can choose which groups of users can access your data - only people from the university or absolutely all site visitors, only people from your city or, for example, all Frank Sinatra fans, etc.
The social network needed good promotion, which was undertaken by prominent entrepreneur Peter Thiel. As a result, this promotion led to the incredible popularity of Facebook. Already in 2006, this site entered the TOP of the most popular sites in the USA.
So who is the actual author?
Which was originally created for Harvard students, has gained great popularity outside of this educational institution. But not everything was as smooth as it might seem at first glance. Two brothers who studied with Mark in the same department accused him of stealing the idea. This is partly true, since they previously invited him as a programmer to create a similar site. They dragged Zuckerberg through the courts, but never won a single case. As a result, they were paid compensation in the amount of $45 million.
In addition to the success story of Facebook, many are interested in family life the creator of this site. We couldn’t help but take this into account, and therefore we present to your attention a few facts about Priscilla Chan, the wife of Mark Zuckerberg.
- Priscilla achieves her goals on her own. At the Quincy High School graduation in 2003, she was assigned to give the valedictorian speech. In America, only those schoolchildren who performed well during the educational process are awarded this honor. After graduating from school, she entered Harvard to study biology. In the period from 2007 to 2008, she was engaged in teaching activities. After these events, Mark’s future wife entered the medical college in the pediatrics department, which she successfully graduated shortly before her marriage.
- This may surprise some, but Mark Zuckerberg met his wife even before he created Facebook and became a famous billionaire. Their first meeting took place at a university party, when they... Standing in line for the toilet.
- Mark and Priscilla don't like pathos and glamour. IN free time they prefer to walk in the park, play bocce (a game similar to bowling and petanque), and spend evenings playing board games. In addition, many journalists have repeatedly criticized the Zuckerberg family for their tasteless dressing and lack of style.
- Priscilla is the initiator of an organ donation program on Facebook, and is generally active in charitable activities with her husband.
- Before their wedding, Mark and Priscilla dated for almost 10 years. When they decided to tie the knot, they tried to make sure that this news did not get into the media. Moreover, they did not even tell their relatives about it. Priscilla invited them to a party, and the reason for the celebration was receiving a scientific degree. Only during the celebration did everyone find out that this couple had arranged a wedding.
Mark Zuckerberg's children
At the time of writing this publication, Mark and Priscilla are the parents of two daughters - Maxim (or as Max's parents call her) and August. The first was born in 2015, and the second two years later.
Is Zuckerberg the grandson of Rockefeller?!
In 2017, the famous banker David Rockefeller left our world. Almost immediately after this event, the world community was stirred up by an incredible rumor: Mark Zuckerberg is actually the grandson of David Rockefeller, and his real name is Jacob Michael Greenberg!
According to unofficial news sources, the story of the creation of Facebook is an ordinary fiction, invented as a distraction. In their opinion, this whole story about a working-class student who, together with his friends, created a multimillion-dollar social network, was created so that young people believed that they could achieve success from scratch. According to these sources, Mark Zuckerberg is just a pawn in the hands of more powerful people, and Facebook is a global surveillance system created by the CIA. The same media called Zuckerberg the great-grandson of Maurice Greenberg, a famous American entrepreneur and owner of the largest insurance companies, CEO of AIG and VC Starr.
On this moment these unofficial sources have not provided any evidence that the above information is true. As we already mentioned, Mark Zuckerberg was born into a family regular doctors. His father was a dentist and his mother was a psychiatrist.
"Social network"
In 2010, a feature film about Mark Zuckerberg called “The Social Network” was released. The director of the film was the director and the screenwriter - The synopsis of the film is as follows:
At the center of the story is a 21-year-old student named Mark. He studies at the prestigious Harvard University and is in a relationship with his girlfriend Erica Albright. Mark is the type of person who feels good only when surrounded by people like themselves. The strangeness of his character and obsession with his studies ultimately led to his girlfriend leaving him. After these events, the protagonist’s neighbor suggested that he compare photographs of university girls online. Mark, wanting revenge on his ex-lover, approved this idea and successfully implemented it. After this success, students from a prestigious Harvard club pay attention to Mark and offer him an interesting project. But the main character already has his own idea and it is much more global.
Facebook creator's opinion on the film "The Social Network"
Despite the fact that Mark Zuckerberg initially stated that he would not watch David Fincher’s film, he still got acquainted with it. The Facebook creator praised the film for its accuracy of everyday details (like the T-shirts and flip-flops worn by main character), but criticized it in other aspects. First, he noted that a character named Erica Albright never actually existed. Secondly, he didn't like the idea that the main character created a social network just because of his ex-girlfriend. According to Zuckerberg, this goes against reality, since he created Facebook only out of interest in what he loved.
Despite the statements of the real Mark, the author of the story, Aaron Sorkin, whose script is an adaptation of Ben Metzrich’s novel “Accidental Billionaires: The Making of Facebook, a Story of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal,” insisted that the events of the film were not made up. On top of that , he noted that Erica Albright, played by actress Rooney Mara, is a real-life woman whose real name has been changed.
One of the producers of “The Social Network” even stated that this picture is nothing more than a metaphor through which director David Fincher showed the ways people communicate with each other. He also thanked Mark himself for allowing them to use events from his life as the basis for the film.
I would like to conclude our article with a few interesting facts about Zuckerberg and his brainchild:
We have provided you with a biography of Mark Zuckerberg, a photo of this millionaire, facts from his personal life, as well as the story of his incredible success. We hope that this article was interesting to you and you learned a lot of new things!
Talented people are talented in everything. Fencing, programming, knowledge of languages, psychology are far from full list hidden capabilities of a young, purposeful guy, Mark Zuckerberg. He managed to turn favorite hobby into a profitable business, creating a world-famous social network. Today, Facebook is one of the five most visited sites, and its founder became the youngest billionaire on the planet. What brought an ordinary guy to success?
Mark Zuckerberg: biography, first steps
The future programmer was born into a family of doctors in the town of White Plains (USA). Zuckerberg's father found himself in dentistry, and his mother in psychiatry. Mark Elliott has 3 sisters - the eldest Randi and the younger Donna and Ariel.
Mark's acquaintance with information technology happened quite early, at 10 years old. The guy received a gift from his father, Edward Zuckerberg, - the first PC. The surprise was an investment in his son's future education. Computers and digital radiography were just beginning to be used in the workplace, and the elder Zuckerberg actively took advantage of this advantage. Edward became the first mentor in Mark's life, teaching him the Basic programming language. The child was so carried away by the new activity that within a couple of years he was writing the ZuckNet program to improve the work of his father’s dental clinic. The program allowed Edward, who was in the office, to communicate with his family and assistants.
In his free time, the talented child created computer games and received additional knowledge from a private tutor.
Zuckerberg's versatility
Programming wasn't Mark's only area of expertise. While studying at Phillips Exeter Academy, the smart guy was interested in literature, mathematics, languages and fencing. In his university resume, Mark indicated knowledge of languages such as French, Latin, Ancient Greek and Hebrew. Often in literature classes, Zuckerberg quoted passages from original works.
The future billionaire's sporting achievements were also extraordinary. His passion for fencing led to the dominant position of captain in the school team.
First successes in programming
Despite being successful in many fields, Mark's heart and soul belonged to programming. While studying at the academy, Zuckerberg wrote the Synapse program with his classmate Adam D'Angelo. The invention was a music player capable of analyzing the tastes of the owner and, according to the information received, creating playlists. This program was created for personal use, but the creators shared it with the community on a special website. The creation was noticed by two well-known companies, Microsoft and AOL, and Zuckerberg received an offer to sell the product and then work together. However, the guy decided to refuse the world IT giants, justifying his decision with the words that “inspiration is not for sale.”
Instead of concluding an agreement with world leaders, Zuckerberg entered the prestigious Harvard University to major in Psychology.
University studies
At Harvard, Mark diligently studied psychology, not forgetting about improving his programming skills. Zuckerberg was a member of the Jewish student society Alpha Insilon Pi, studied diligently and attended computer courses.
The second year of study was marked by the creation of two computer programs. The first invention, CourseMatch, helped students decide on subjects based on the experiences of other students. The second creation was called Facemash and lasted only 2 days. The program consisted of choosing the most attractive one out of two students. Thus, a list of the most popular students at the university was formed. The invention had real photographs of students, which was the reason for large quantity complaints and project closure. Zuckerberg admitted to hacking the Harvard database, but explained his behavior with the usual desire to joke.
Soon everyone forgot about the failed joke. However, the incident became decisive for three of his fellow students, who were selecting a team to create a new project, HarvardConnection.com. Mark played an important role in programming social network. Zuckerberg accepted the offer, but soon left the project due to being busy with another creation.
Birth of Facebook
Work on the site started in January 2004. Sophomore student Mark Zuckerberg registered a domain called thefacebook, and in early February the project was seen by the world. Initially, it was a social network for communication between Harvard students. Within a day, about a thousand people registered on the site, and a month later, a good half of the students had their own page on the social network.
The site's growth required more people to work on it. Classmates Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskowitz, Andrew McCollum, and Chris Hughes joined Mark. Thanks to efforts and financial investments, within a few months the network became available to Stanford, Columbia and Yale universities. Over time, the list expanded to include Ivy League universities, top educational establishments Canada and USA.
The development of the social network was rapid and successful. In the summer of 2004, Facebook was created, with Sean Parker as its president, and general director occupied by Mark Zuckerberg. The guy decided to take an example from Bill Gates and quit his studies at Harvard, devoting himself entirely to the project.
A new page in the history of Facebook began in 2005, when the facebook.com domain was acquired. From that moment on, Mark Zuckerberg’s social network not only became a place for students to communicate, but also gave anyone the opportunity to plunge into the electronic world.
Three years later, Mark Zuckerberg was recognized as the youngest billionaire in the world, and his project continued to flourish. Today, the Facebook network has more than 1 billion users.
Below are some interesting facts about Mark:
Meeting your future wife
Mark Zuckerberg met his wife Priscilla Chan at one of the student parties at Harvard. They dated for nine years and finally legalized their relationship in 2012. The wedding ceremony took place in the circle of relatives and friends. Initially, the event involved celebrating the successful completion of his future wife’s studies and the placement of Facebook shares on the stock exchange. However, the couple gave an unexpected surprise and announced their wedding.
The billionaire's chosen one has American and Chinese roots. The girl studied at the Faculty of Biology at Harvard, and then at medical college in San Francisco, at the Department of Pediatrics. In 2015, Priscilla began work on opening special school, which will include elements of education and health promotion.
Despite their enormous fortune, the couple are not regulars at parties and social events, preferring board games and walks in nature.
First experience of fatherhood
Mark and Priscilla dreamed of adding to their family for a long time, but the girl suffered miscarriages. In December 2015, Mark Zuckerberg's first child was born. Maxim's daughter Chan (Max) lit up the social network with her appearance just a few days after birth. The non-superstitious Mark Zuckerberg posted a photo with his child on his personal Facebook page. The happy dad took two months off to enjoy the joy of fatherhood.
Charity
In 2010, the billionaire joined charitable organization The Giving Pledge, which encourages wealthy people to give half of their wealth to those in need.
Mark Zuckerberg with his wife and children (they are still part of the plans of the young married couple) will give 99 percent of the Facebook shares (today - about $45 billion) that they own to charity. The joyful couple made this statement after the birth of their daughter. The future should open up opportunities for everyone, regardless of their social status and financial well-being.
In addition, Zuckerberg supported the Diaspora project, which was a direct competitor to Facebook. Mark allocated $100 thousand for the development of an open source social network. The billionaire showed concern for the development of public schools in Newark. Mark Zuckerberg donated $100 million to improve them.
Visit Russia
In 2012, Mark Zuckerberg flew to Russian Federation. After staying on its territory for three days, the young billionaire managed to complete many important missions. One of them was a meeting with the Prime Minister of Russia. Mark also gave a lecture for MSU students. To attend the meeting, you had to register. The number of applicants exceeded the capacity of the audience, so a lottery was held among those who signed up. At the lecture, the billionaire shared with the audience the history of the creation of the famous social network and told his story. In addition, Zuckerberg took part in several Russian programs and was actively involved in an international conference created by him. The conference discussed the advantages of the Facebook network, the main one being the huge number of active users.
Mark Zuckerberg's titles
Mark Zuckerberg has already won the following titles:
- The youngest billionaire in the world according to Forbes magazine.
- Person of the Year 2010 according to version Time magazine.
- The most tastelessly dressed billionaire according to GQ magazine.
Mark Zuckerberg, whose photo you see in the article, is young, successful man. He managed to achieve a lot thanks to his perseverance and hard work. Let's wish him success and prosperity!
Mark Zuckerberg's children are two desired and long-awaited daughters, the youngest of whom is due to be born this year. According to the Facebook founder, they took a very long time to become parents - Mark Zuckerberg's wife was pregnant several times, and only two attempts were successful. During all this time, the relationship between Mark and Priscilla not only did not worsen, it became even stronger, and the joint struggle for happiness brought the spouses even closer together. Their eldest daughter Max was born in 2015, and this became the reason for one of the richest people on the planet, whose fortune is estimated at fifty-three billion dollars, to announce that during his life he and his wife would give 99 percent of their shares to charity Facebook, which at that time was valued at forty-five billion dollars. These funds should go to Zuckerberg's charitable foundation, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which helps schools for the poor and those with serious illnesses.
In the photo - Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan
After the birth of his first daughter Maxima, or Max, as her parents call her, Mark happily plunged into the atmosphere of fatherhood and did not hesitate to change his daughter’s diapers, happily talking about it on social networks. In addition, he constantly posted photos of his eldest daughter in different images, for example, in a Jedi cloak and holding a lightsaber. The whole event was the first word spoken by Zuckerberg’s daughter, and it was the word “dog,” because Max adores their Hungarian shepherd Bist.
Zuckerberg met his future wife while studying at Harvard University, when he was not yet the founder of the world famous Facebook network, but was a simple programmer. Priscilla was by his side all the way to success, and on May 19, 2012 they got married. They had their modest wedding at Zuckerberg's house in Palo Alto, and the hundreds of guests who came to the celebration at first didn't even know they were going to the wedding, but thought they were invited to celebrate Priscilla's graduation from the University of California.
Mark Zuckerberg's wife holds a doctorate in medicine, but now she devotes all her time not to her career, but to raising her daughter and preparing for a new birth. Since her first pregnancy was very difficult, Priscilla and her husband are doing everything to ensure that the second one proceeds without complications. Mark showed himself to be a very good husband, who did not give up and did not leave his Priscilla, who had big problems becoming a mother, but he really needed an heir. This once again confirms that good husbands and fathers are not made, but are born, because only a responsible and worthy person is able to sympathize and empathize, be strong and at the same time gentle, surrounding the woman he loves with care and not abandoning her in difficult times.
In the photo - Mark with his daughter Max
Mark Zuckerberg is a versatile person, whose main hobby since his school years has been programming, and after acquiring the first computer in his life, he began to independently create computer games and various entertaining applications. But his range of interests was not limited to this - he was passionate about fencing and studying ancient languages.
Zuckerberg entered the prestigious Harvard University in 2002, and two years later began dating a Chinese woman, Priscilla Chan. Mark fell in love with her for her simplicity and openness and found a kindred spirit in her. Mark Zuckerberg's future wife always believed in the success of his project to create a social network and supported him in all his endeavors.
They tried not to advertise their relationship, so when the rich young programmer admitted that his heart had not been free for a long time, it became a big discovery for many. What surprised everyone even more was that Mark Zuckerberg, who had great hopes for a luxurious future, chose not a stunning beauty, but a modestly and even, in the opinion of many, tastelessly dressed girl with an ordinary appearance. However, this did not bother Mark - he was happy with everything about his beloved, and their relationship only flourished and became stronger.
Even people who are not registered on Facebook and have a vague idea of this social network are familiar with the name of Mark Zuckerberg today. Having started its growth from a modest student association, Facebook gradually grew to the scale of, one might say, a planet-wide means of communication.
Whatever language you speak, whatever country in the world you are in, whatever your range of interests - with the help of Facebook you can easily find friends, like-minded people and helpers.
The creator of this universal virtual portal is a seemingly ordinary guy, Mark Zuckerberg. If you meet him by chance on the street, you are unlikely to be very interested or surprised: a young man in a simple gray T-shirt and comfortable sneakers does not make any special impression.
But looks can be deceiving and Mark seems like an ordinary guy only until you decide to dig a little deeper.
In 2019, Mark will be only 35. By this age, he has managed to achieve everything that fortune can give a person.
The beginning of the beginning: childhood
Mark was born on May 14, 1984 in White Plains (territorially part of New York). He became the second child of Edward and Karen Zuckerberg. Daughter Randy was born first. After Mark, two more girls were born: Donna and Ariel.
The elder Zuckerbergs worked in healthcare: Edward is a dentist (he still works today), Karen is a psychiatrist. From an early age, children saw how their parents knew how to organize their workday with maximum efficiency: the treatment room was located in the same house where they lived.
Karen helped her husband record patients and took on administrative duties. There was no need to travel to work, thanks to which the couple had time to devote time to making money and raising four heirs.
Often children came to their father’s office, equipped with last word technology. There was always perfect order there. By personal example, the parents gave the children a lesson on how to properly organize their workspace.
Edward and Karen Zuckerberg adhered to fairly strict rules in matters of education, while always encouraging a thirst for knowledge and independence. Measures of physical coercion were never used in the family, but the children had certain boundaries beyond which they should not go when playing pranks.
Edward Zuckerberg said in an interview that in his office there were always computers equipped with modern programs, and children learned to communicate with this technology on a first-name basis almost from infancy. Having once noticed Mark’s increased interest in everything related to IT technologies, his parents gave him a Quantex 486DX.
At that time the boy was 10 years old. This became the starting point for the beginning of Mark’s future career and, one might say, the work of Mark’s entire life. He began to study Atari BASIC, one of the then popular programming languages. Soon the first attempts to create his own software product began: boy friends brought Mark their drawings, and the young programmer invented and created computer games based on them.
The next fruit of young Mark’s labors is the ZuckNet program. It allowed people who were quite far from each other to communicate. Mark's father installed this application on his computer and used his son's work for its intended purpose: he discussed various matters with his assistant.
Education
Mark studied at school with pleasure. He was distinguished by his curiosity and ability to easily assimilate the material of any subject. Natural science disciplines (mathematics, chemistry, physics) were especially easy for the future programmer, as well as foreign languages. By the time he entered college, Mark was fluent in an impressive list of languages, including:
- French;
- Hebrew;
- Ancient Greek.
Friends claim that he freely quoted huge passages from Homer's Iliad by heart.
There were two secondary schools where Mark studied: first, Ardsley School, then Phillips Exeter Academy. After that there was college, and the final step was Harvard University, where, by the way, by the time Marka entered, she was already studying the sciences of elder sister Randy.
All the time Mark was accumulating knowledge, he was interested in programming. Although higher education He received a degree in psychology (probably influenced by his mother), his favorite hobby was the creation of computer programs.
During his student years, he created the CourseMatch program. With its help, students chose those disciplines that were interesting to them and which they would like to study in depth.
All this was an excellent preparation for the project, which one day “shot”, so much so that it conquered the whole world with one shot, - Facebook.
Personal life
During his school and student years, Mark was not particularly popular with girls. Perhaps he could be classified into that category of guys who are called “nerds”: he devoted all his free time to studying and was not interested in student parties. However, such complete immersion in creativity still did not prevent him from meeting his future life partner, Priscilla Chan.
The girl turned out to be a match for Mark - just as gifted, passionate about her studies, striving to achieve success in the business field. She studied medical profession.
The young people dated for a long time, and the marriage was registered only in 2012. Friends and relatives were invited to the celebration, to whom it was initially announced that the celebration was being held on the occasion of Priscilla receiving her Doctor of Science degree in medicine. And only when they got into the house did the friends realize that they were at a wedding.
The couple has two children: daughter Max was born in 2015, and daughter August was born in 2017. Mark turned out to be very caring father: He willingly helps his wife bathe and entertain the little ones. For the sake of his children, he even gave up active participation in business for a while, going on “maternity leave.”
Mark and Priscilla lead a rather modest lifestyle, do not try to “shine” at various events, and their names do not appear in scandalous chronicles. It looks like the couple is happy.
Of Mark's three sisters, the eldest Randa turned out to be the most closely related to him, and not only through family ties: she worked for a long time at Facebook, doing advertising.
Randa even wrote a book about this period. It is interesting that family ties did not give Randa any advantages: her brother treated her the same as other employees, and once tore up a report he did not like.
How did Facebook start? In 2003, Mark Zuckerberg was a sophomore at Harvard. It was then that he came up with the idea of a large-scale network that could be used by students and other people, primarily to solve some professional problems.
During his “training,” a promising student hacked into a university server and “stole” photographs and other data stored there. He was accused of copyright infringement.
The incident brought scandalous fame to the novice programmer. He continued to work on the project and in 2004 introduced the world to a new social network - Thefacebook.
Investments
To develop the project, solid funds were needed sums of money. Starting capital The creator did not have the required amount, so he began looking for people willing to invest their funds. It was assumed that in the future all this would pay off and the social network would bring good profits.
Another Harvard student, Eduardo Saverin, acted as an investor. He was rich and well versed in business - or so Zuckerberg assumed. In one of his messages to a friend, Mark writes: “Eduardo will pay for my servers... He thinks he will make money... I don’t know about business.”
In fact, Zuckerberg admitted that he was not sure about the benefits of the investment. His intention was different: “I’ll be satisfied if I do something cool.”
The social network was expanding rapidly and more and more money was needed. Famous businessmen in the States saw interesting prospects project and began to willingly invest considerable sums. Here are their names: Peter Thiel, Ride Hoffman, Mark Pincus. The developer felt: it was time to leave the role of a student and seriously get involved in the Big Business.
Lawsuits
At this stage, difficulties began with the company's first investor. Eduardo Saverin did not play by the rules that Zuckerberg had established in his company (now called simply Facebook). Eduardo tried to convince the head of the company that it was necessary to make the most of the possibilities of online advertising.
In addition, he creates the Joboozle project, designed to help meet potential employers and those who are looking for work. All this displeases Mark: firstly, he does not want to turn his social network into a space for advertising, and secondly, he reproaches Eduardo for unworthy rivalry: they say, Facebook should also soon develop a platform to help job seekers. It turns out that Saverin is “crossing the road.”
When it became clear that the founders had finally parted ways, the question arose of eliminating the competitor. And Mark does the following: he sells the company and acquires a new one so that the number of shares owned by Eduardo is sharply reduced. His share in the case is simply being eroded.
After the trial, Saverin was actually removed from the management of the company and signed an agreement to transfer all intellectual property and voting rights to Mark Zuckerberg.
This vague story was not the last for Facebook to “highlight” the name of its owner in court.
A really big scandal broke out when it became clear that from 2014 to 2017, the social network transferred data of its users to Cambridge Analytica. Of course, this was done without obtaining user consent.
Cambridge Analytica analyzed data and used it to create portraits of American voters, that is, illegally used it in the preparation for the presidential election. According to some sources, this was the personal data of 50 million, according to others – 86 million people.
The precedent turned out to be so egregious that not only the Massachusetts prosecutor's office, but even the European Parliament became interested in the process.
After legal proceedings, Facebook was fined $238,000.
How did the head of the social network react to what happened? Facebook is satisfied with the court's decision, as stated by the company's press secretary, Gauthier. Zuckerberg held several meetings with people in important positions and announced that Facebook was now at war.
This means that it is necessary to develop a methodology that will reliably protect users’ personal data. This type of information leakage cannot be allowed to happen again.
Zuckerberg declared the second important task of “wartime” to be the search for opportunities to expand the user base. It’s not surprising: after all, some people, fearing a possible leak of personal data, will move to some other platforms.
How Facebook makes money
For most of us, Facebook is a means of communication and communication. But no company will last long if it does not make money for its founder. Interesting data: the social network earns $5.45 per user. This is on average. If we take Europeans into account, for them this figure will be approximately 8 dollars, and in Canada and the USA it is 23.59 dollars.
The scheme for earning capital is simple - by selling advertising. Advertising is used widely and actively:
- ads;
- video;
- advertising posts.
Very interesting thing- targeted advertising. As soon as a user takes a “walk” through the pages of travel agencies and looks for, for example, a ski tour, offers of excellent ski equipment, conveniently located hotels, courses and instructors teaching the art of dashing mountain skiing will immediately appear unobtrusively.
Social network in cinema
Facebook has become so famous that a film has already been made about it. The name is simple: “Social Network”. The film tells the story of the beginning of Mark Zuckerberg's journey, the first steps and development of his grandiose project. In general, the facts coincide with reality, although there is also fiction - the filmmakers themselves admit that they do not claim one hundred percent truthfulness.
So, probably to create intrigue, director David Fincher forces the movie Mark to meet a certain girl and go through a difficult breakup with her. Allegedly, this was the starting point for the emergence of the idea of Facebook - a network that would make it easy to make acquaintances without the barriers that sometimes appear in real life, communicate.
The film then tells how a grieving Mark hacks the university server and creates a page where you can vote for the most beautiful student at Harvard. And all this happens in one night.
Subsequent events develop according to a scenario similar to reality.
The real Mark Zuckerberg reacted coolly to the film. On the one hand, he was delighted with how the creators accurately reproduced it external image– eternal simple gray T-shirts and light sneakers.
On the other hand, he pointed to the fact that no girl left him on the eve of the creation of Facebook. Moreover, then he already knew Priscilla, his only love.
Mark Zuckerberg today
In the book “The Durov Code” by Nikolai Kononov, which tells about the life and work of the author of the large Russian social network “VKontakte”, Mark Zuckerberg is presented as a cold and unemotional person, whose soul is truly dark for those around him.
Let's try to lift the veil of secrecy a little: what is the young billionaire really like?
Charity
Perhaps the decision to give part of one’s income to charity can say a lot about a person. One day (it was in 2015), Mark and Priscilla announced that during their lives they would give 99% of their Facebook shares to help those in need.
The couple keeps their word: today Mark is the creator and curator of dozens of charitable foundations.
Visit Russia
In 2012, apparently as part of a project to expand the Facebook network, the young billionaire came to Russia. He met with Medvedev and appeared twice on Channel One. Then Zuckerberg gave a lecture to students of Moscow State University. Lomonosov.
There were rumors that all this was done to create a development center for the Facebook project in Russia, taking into account the local “flavor”. They were also afraid of the active recruitment of young ambitious guys and the subsequent “brain drain”.
Nothing happened: Mark simply talked about the features of his social network, drew attention to its advantages and encouraged everyone to register their own page.
Titles
Mark Zuckerberg is the recipient of an honorary Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Harvard University.
He is “Person of the Year 2010” according to Time magazine. He is also recognized as the youngest billionaire in the world. And it remains so to this day.
State
Forbes magazine, which loves to follow the lives of the Earth's top billionaires, has been steadily ranking Mark Zuckerberg among the very top for several years now.
But this year, after a major scandal involving the leak of user data and a lawsuit, Zuckerberg’s fortune was under threat: if in January 2018 it was $75 billion, then by December 2018 it was “only” $56 billion. In a year, the businessman lost more than $19 billion.
However, now the situation has stabilized somewhat. Most likely, the head of the company will be able to cope with the problem - it was not for nothing that he declared “martial law” to his employees.
Quotes
Mark Zuckerberg is accused of the fact that young people “hang out” on social networks for hours – so much so that virtual communication seems easier to many than real ones. He himself says the following about this:
What does a person need to be able to fully realize themselves in life? Let's listen to Mark: "A person can be a genius... but if he doesn't believe in himself, he won't give it his all." This means that he will not reach the heights that were, in principle, available to him. So, the beginning of any business is faith in yourself and your strength!
Lifestyle
Mark Zuckerberg leads a normal life without the “billionaire habits”. He gets up in the morning at 8 o'clock and goes for a run. Sometimes he takes his favorite dog with him, which makes running more fun. Then he eats breakfast, not really paying attention to what exactly appears on his table - Mark is not what you would call a fan healthy eating. Then he gets behind the wheel of his Volkswagen Golf GTI and goes about his business.
Working on improving Facebook takes him, by his own admission, 50-60 hours a week. He successfully solves many problems without leaving home. By the way, the house in Palo Alto, where Maroc lives with his family, is controlled by a virtual assistant. Zuckerberg created it himself.
Most of interesting ideas visits Mark, ironically, just when he is distracted from work.
Does a billionaire have free time? When such moments occur, Mark devotes them to reading, studying Mandarin Chinese and, of course, raising his daughters.
Contacts
Every morning Mark checks the news by checking WhatsApp, Facebook and Facebook Messenger. Therefore, if you want to chat with him, the easiest way to catch him is there at the beginning of the day.
Mark Zuckerberg is a legend for his generation. He is not yet 40, but his name is known in every corner globe. How did he manage to achieve worldwide recognition? Talent? Undoubtedly. And also great hard work, perseverance and the desire to reach the goal by any means (even if not always perfect - remember the story with the first investor Eduardo Saverin).
Be that as it may, today Mark Zuckerberg is a billionaire who has achieved his goal of “doing something cool.” And we have Facebook, thanks to which we can make friends living in the most remote parts of the planet.
Mark Zuckerberg born in New York into a Jewish family. Zuckerberg's father worked as a dentist, and his mother was a psychiatrist. During my school years I became interested in computer programming and developed an online version of the game “Risk”. Having rejected job offers from AOL and, he entered Harvard University to study psychology. At Harvard, Mark additionally attended IT courses.
Many biographical texts have been written about Mark Zuckerberg, in which the refrain is the phrase: "youngest billionaire". Indeed, this lucky guy is so young that many are wondering: is he a genius or just caught up in a stream of favorable circumstances? However, the creation of a global social network can hardly be called an accidental success.
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg was born in New York, in an intelligent family, and from childhood did not know the need for anything. Of course, he was provided with a computer and, being a passionate fan of it, by the end of his school years he created a computer version board game"Risk". Having rejected job offers from AOL and Microsoft, he entered Harvard University to study psychology. And soon, with a friend, he developed the first serious player program: MP3-player Winamp. This hobby did not interfere with Mark’s comprehensive self-development: he gave preference to mathematics and fencing, and studied ancient languages. At Harvard he became interested in psychology. But programming remained his element.
At the university, he began vigorous activity to create a website for students to communicate, and no one expected that it would grow into the most popular social network. But the Facebook program was written in just a week!
The young programmer was helped to promote the social network by Sean Parker, a cult Internet personality, who brought Mark together with businessman Peter Thiel, who managed to attract large investments into this project. By 2006, Facebook had become the seventh most popular Facebook in America, and Mark received the first offers to buy it, but were rejected. In just a few years, Zuckerberg increased the network's capabilities and his finances a hundredfold. Today Facebook is called the new Google.
Mark Zuckerberg's wife
Mark and the 27-year-old UC Medical School graduate Priscilla Chan got married in the yard behind Zuckerberg's house. About a hundred guests believed they were invited to celebrate Chan's graduation.
The couple has been living together since 2010: then Zuckerberg invited her to live in his rented house in Palo Alto. A couple of months later, they traveled to China, and it is known that Zuckerberg studied Chinese for the trip. Only in the spring of 2011, Mark Zuckerberg set the status “in a relationship” on his profile; now he changed the status much more quickly - “married”.
There is no report of any prenuptial agreement being entered into, but this is a common practice in the States. One way or another, Zuckerberg made his $17 billion fortune before getting married, and the wedding took place a day after the IPO.
After the completion of the IPO, Bloomberg estimated Mark Zuckerberg's net worth at $19.1 billion. The successful sale of shares raised the CEO of Facebook to 29th place in the ranking of billionaires, placing him above the founders of the corporation Google and.
Mark Zuckerberg sold 30.2 million shares, which will bring him $1.03-1.15 billion. The founder of the world's largest social network turned 28 just four days ago, and he still has a lot to strive for. For example, the fortune of Microsoft founder Bill Gates is estimated at $60.4 billion. This is short, but amazing story about how an ordinary 27-year-old guy becomes the idol of millions. Everyone wants to reach unprecedented heights, but only a few are capable of this.
