The eighth richest man in the world and founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, was born 35 years ago today, 14th May 2019. He became famous for being the founder of social networking site Facebook. A 19-year-old Harvard student, Zuckerberg launched the Facebook site on 4th February 2004. He called it “thefacebook.com” at the time.

 

Zuckerberg has come a long way since then. He is now a household name in the tech space. He has had some ups and downs with security and privacy issues. This also includes the recent backlash from a co-founder of Facebook, Chris Hughes. Zuckerberg has become a somewhat controversial figure since the Cambridge analytical scandal during the US elections. He has also been accused of monopolising the social media space due to his acquisition of WhatsApp and Instagram. This subsequently resulted in the call to break-up Facebook.

 

But today is Zuckerberg’s birthday. So here are some facts about him.

 

1. Mark Zuckerberg’s financial worth

As of today, Zuckerberg is worth $67.5 billion. He is currently the eighth richest man in the world. He and his wife are spending $3 billion in an attempt to end, cure or manage all diseases by the year 2100. His net worth also surged by nearly $3 billion earlier in March 2019.

 

 

2. Salary

Mark Zuckerberg only receives a dollar as salary. He also receives no bonuses and no stocks. However, he got $22,554,542 from other types of compensation in 2018. When asked why he receives only a dollar as salary, Zuckerberg said,

“I’ve made enough money. At this point, I’m just focused on making sure I do the most possible good with what I have. The main way I can help is through Facebook — giving people the power to share and connecting the world. I’m also focussing on my education and health philanthropy work outside of Facebook as well. Too many people die unnecessarily and don’t get the opportunities they deserve. There are lots of things in the world that need to get fixed, and I’m just lucky to have the chance to work on fixing some of them.”

 

3. Facebook

 

Zuckerberg started Facebook at Harvard in 2004 for students to match names with faces in class. He then took Facebook public in May 2012 and currently still owns about 15% of the stock. In December 2015, he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, pledged to give away 99% of their Facebook stake over their lifetimes.

 

4. Family life

Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan are co-founders of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The initiative aims to use technology to solve problems in areas like health, science and education. Even though they work together, Zuckerberg and his wife insisted on an agreement to ensure they “have a minimum of 100 minutes of time alone together each week, in addition to a weekly date night.” The couple met on the night Zuckerberg thought he was going to be expelled from Harvard. They have been married since 19th May 2012. They have two children, Maxima Chan Zuckerberg and August Chan Zuckerberg.

 

 

5. Fun facts

• Mark Zuckerberg created an instant messaging program called ZuckNet when he was only 12 so that his dentist father could know when his patients arrived.
• His favourite TV show is “The West Wing”, created by Aaron Sorkin. The same man also wrote “The Social Network”, the film based on the creation of Facebook.
• He first learned to code from a “C++ for Dummies” book.
• His is multilingual. He speaks English, Latin and Mandarin.
• Contrary to popular belief, his signature T-shirts aren’t very cheap. They cost about $300 to $400 dollars.
• He can’t be blocked on Facebook, and he admired Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso.