Mark Zuckerberg is a computer programmer, co-founder, president, and CEO of Meta (formerly known as Facebook), which is the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp. Zuckerberg was born on May 14, 1984 in White Plains, New York. From an early age he was interested in the world of computers, at the age of 12 he knew how to program with BASIC and developed an instant messaging app that his father used in the office.
Zuckerberg was a student at Harvard University, but after two years he dropped out to dedicate himself entirely to Facebook.
To create Facebook, he was inspired by other social platforms such as FaceMash and HarvardConnection, which earned him accusations of plagiarism . In February 2004, Mark Zuckerberg, from his room in a Harvard student residence, launched a portal called thefacebook.com, which he would call Facebook in 2005. This functioned as a directory in which Harvard students posted their own information. and photos in a template Zuckerberg had designed.
In just two weeks, more than half of Harvard students were on Facebook. The app quickly became popular thanks to the freedoms it offered, such as the ability to create profiles, upload photos, videos, and chat with friends. Its main difference from other similar sites is that it emphasized registering real names and trusted contacts.
In 2004, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra, the three founders of HarvardConnection.com, sued Zuckerberg for alleged theft of intellectual property from the website. The final verdict in the lawsuit was a multi-million dollar cash and stock option settlement in 2008. In 2011 the Winklevoss twins attempted to reopen the lawsuit, but the court denied the petition.
Early business achievements of Mark Zuckerberg
In 2005, Facebook raised $12.7 million in venture capital and the service reached hundreds of universities and schools in the United States. A year later, the social network opened to the general public and Yahoo! offered $1 billion to buy the company, an offer Zuckerberg rejected.
In early 2012, Facebook went public and became the most successful Internet IPO in history when it raised $16 billion. That same year, Mark Zuckerberg bought Instagram and married Priscilla Chan in a surprise wedding the day after Facebook shares went public.
Meta has acquired numerous companies throughout its history, including massive social networks like Instagram, already mentioned, and apps the likes of WhatsApp . The first cost $1 billion in 2012 and the second $22 billion in 2014. Another notable acquisition was Oculus VR for $2 billion in 2014.
wealth and charity
Mark Zuckerberg has become famous for his humility and simplicity, as well as for wearing his now traditional Flip-flap sandals and always the same T-shirt. In 2010 he donated $100 million to help schools in Newark, New Jersey. In 2014, Philanthropy named Zuckerberg and his wife the year’s most generous donors for giving 18 million Facebook shares to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
On December 1, 2015, Zuckerberg and Chan released a letter making official the creation of the “Chan Zuckerberg Initiative” to unite people from around the world to advance human potential and equality for all children in the next generation. . They focused on offering personalized classes, curing diseases, and connecting people to build strong communities.
always surrounded by controversy
Meta has been repeatedly accused of collecting and selling personal data, user posts and messages. Many of these allegations surfaced after the 2016 presidential election. In March 2018, The New York Times and The Observer reported that Cambridge Analytica (a political consultancy) paid an outside researcher to store data on 50 million Internet users. Facebook without your permission.
In April 2018, Facebook reported that the information of 87 million users was accidentally shared with Cambridge Analytica. A figure that far exceeded the 50 million originally announced. That same year, Zuckerberg was subpoenaed on Capitol Hill to testify before House and Senate committees about Facebook ‘s use of user data .
Bet on the metaverse
Zuckerberg, now CEO of Meta, bets the future of social networks on the creation and development of the Metaverse , to which he is allocating significant investments and which has caused some disagreements with the company’s shareholders, who do not see much of a future for it. Meta is in a delicate situation, registering a significant drop in revenue and has also announced massive layoffs for the coming months.
