Mark Zuckerberg is a well-known American tech entrepreneur and someone who gives a lot to charity. His wealth is estimated at $220 billion. For the past ten years, he has regularly been among the richest people in the world. He is the youngest person among the top 100 richest and is more than ten years younger than anyone else in the top 30.
Most of Zuckerberg’s money comes from his shares in Facebook. He owns about 400 million shares of the company, which are split into different types that come with different voting rights. He has around 12 million Class A shares and 365 million Class B shares, which make up about 81% of all Class B shares.
Because of these Class B shares, which have stronger voting power, Zuckerberg controls 53% of the company’s voting rights. He also has control over the Class B voting rights of co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, giving him about 58% of the total voting power in the company.
Key Information
- Started thefacebook.com from his dorm room at Harvard University on February 4, 2004.
- Left Harvard during his second year.
- Turned down a $1 billion cash offer from Yahoo in July 2006 when he was 22 years old.
- Reached a net worth of $15 billion on the day Facebook went public in May 2012.
- Owns about 400 million Facebook shares.
- Controls 58% of the total voting power in Facebook.
- Hit a net worth of over $100 billion for the first time on August 7, 2020.
- Has pledged to give away 99% of his wealth during his lifetime.
- Owns about $200 million worth of personal real estate in the U.S.
- Spent $43 million to buy the four properties next to his home in Palo Alto.
- Bought around 840 acres on the Hawaiian island of Kauai for $145 million.
Major Wealth Milestones
Mark became a billionaire on paper for the first time in 2007 when Microsoft invested $240 million in Facebook, giving the company a value of $15 billion. Before that, Facebook had been valued at $525 million.
After this Series C funding round with Microsoft, Mark’s share in the company was reduced to around 30%, which made his portion worth $5 billion on paper at that point.
It’s worth mentioning that the company raised more money in 2009, but at a lower value of $10 billion. By the time Facebook went public in 2012, Mark’s share had increased in value to $15 billion.
On August 7, 2020, Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth went over $100 billion for the first time. By the end of 2021, it had reached its highest point at $137 billion, making him the third richest person in the world.
As of January 1, 2022, his net worth was $126 billion, placing him fifth among the richest people in the world. However, in the months that followed, his wealth dropped a lot because Facebook’s stock price fell by 70%, going from around $340 per share to $100.
By late April, his net worth had dropped to $65 billion, which was $60 billion less than it had been at the beginning of January.
By late October, his net worth had dropped further to $37 billion, which was a $100 billion loss compared to the previous year and an $89 billion decrease since January 1. No other billionaire had lost this much during that time, causing Mark to fall from third place to thirtieth among the richest people.
Luckily, this drop in wealth was temporary. In 2023, Mark’s net worth bounced back, recovering all the losses from before.
On February 2, 2024, as Facebook’s stock hit an all-time high, Mark’s net worth rose to $170 billion, the highest it had ever been.
Early Life
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg was born on May 14, 1984, in White Plains, New York. His father, Edward, is a dentist, and his mother, Karen, is a psychiatrist. He has three siblings: Randi, Donna, and Arielle. The family lived in Dobbs Ferry, New York, in Westchester County. At the age of 12, he had a “Star Wars” themed Bar Mitzvah.
During middle school, Zuckerberg became interested in computers and software programming. His father taught him BASIC Programming in the 1990s and later hired software developer David Newman to tutor him.
Zuckerberg started high school at Ardsley High School for his freshman and sophomore years. He then transferred to Phillips Exeter Academy for his junior and senior years, where he excelled academically, winning awards in physics, mathematics, astronomy, and classical studies.
He was the captain of the fencing team at Phillips Exeter Academy. While in high school, he also took a graduate-level BASIC course at Mercy College.
He created a software program called “ZuckNet,” which connected the computers in his home to those in his father’s dental office, working like AOL’s Instant Messenger, which came out the next year.
Zuckerberg also developed a music player called the Synapse Media Player, which adjusted to the user’s listening habits.
AOL showed interest in buying Synapse and hiring Zuckerberg, and Microsoft made a multi-million dollar offer for the software and tried to recruit him. However, he turned down both offers and went on to study at Harvard University in the fall of 2002.
Harvard
By the time Mark arrived at Harvard, he had already shown himself to be a programming genius. He chose to study psychology and computer science, joining the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity and living in Kirkland House.
In his second year, he developed CourseMatch, a program that helped students choose classes based on what their peers were taking and allowed them to form study groups.
Not long after, he created Facemash, a website where users could choose the most attractive person from a set of photos. The site became so popular that it caused Harvard’s servers to crash, which led to the university shutting it down.
In January 2004, during the next semester, Zuckerberg started working on a new website. On February 4, 2004, he officially launched “Thefacebook,” which was initially available through the domain thefacebook.com, from his dorm room at Harvard. He worked on this project with classmates Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes, and Eduardo Saverin.
Zuckerberg decided to leave Harvard during his sophomore year to focus on developing Facebook, and he was later awarded an honorary degree in 2017.
In the spring of 2004, Zuckerberg, Moskovitz, and several others moved to Palo Alto, California, where they rented a small house that served as Facebook’s office.
During the summer, Zuckerberg met Peter Thiel, who later invested in the company. Although the group originally planned to return to Harvard, they chose to stay in California.
They had turned down offers from large companies interested in buying Facebook. In April 2009, Zuckerberg sought advice from former Netscape CFO Peter Currie on how to fund Facebook.
On July 21, 2010, Zuckerberg announced that Facebook had reached 500 million users. Today, Facebook is a large social network, helping to make Mark Zuckerberg one of the richest people in the world.
Legal Matters
Divya Narendra, Cameron Winklevoss, and Tyler Winklevoss, all Harvard students, filed a lawsuit against Zuckerberg. They claimed he had intentionally misled them into thinking he would help develop their website idea, HarvardConnection.com, which was later renamed ConnectU.
This lawsuit was the first in a series of legal issues Zuckerberg faced. The case was settled on June 25, 2008, with the Winklevoss brothers receiving 1.2 million common shares and $20 million in cash.
If those shares are still held, their current value is over $200 million. The Winklevoss brothers reportedly sold some of these shares to fund their Bitcoin investments. By December 2017, their combined Bitcoin holdings were worth over $1 billion.
On April 10 and 11, 2018, Zuckerberg testified before the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation about Facebook’s handling of personal data in the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data breach. He described the incident as a breach of trust involving Aleksandr Kogan, Cambridge Analytica, and Facebook.
Personal Life
Zuckerberg mentioned that he could read and write in French, Hebrew, Latin, and ancient Greek when he filled out his college applications.
During his second year at Harvard, Zuckerberg met his future wife, Priscilla Chan, who was a fellow student, at a fraternity event. They started their romantic relationship in 2003.
In September 2010, Zuckerberg invited Chan, who was studying medicine at the University of California, to live with him in his rented house in Palo Alto.
On May 19, 2012, Zuckerberg and Chan got married in a ceremony in his backyard, which also celebrated her graduation from medical school. On December 1, 2015, Zuckerberg announced the birth of their daughter, Maxima Chan Zuckerberg, who they call “Max.”
They had their second daughter, August, in August 2017, and in March 2023, they welcomed their third daughter, Aurelia.
Zuckerberg and Chan are both signatories of The Giving Pledge and are involved in charity work through their foundation, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The couple has shared their plan to give 99% of their Facebook shares to the Initiative.
In 2022, Zuckerberg started training in Mixed Martial Arts and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. While competing in a BJJ tournament at the white belt level in May 2023, he won both a silver and a gold medal in gi and no gi categories. It was also reported in 2023 that Zuckerberg was working on getting his pilot’s license.
Real Estate
Zuckerberg and Chan own around $200 million in real estate and land around the world. Some of their most important properties include 1,400 acres in Hawaii, several homes in Palo Alto, and a townhouse in San Francisco.
Mark Zuckerberg’s main home is a modest 5,000-square-foot house in Palo Alto, which he bought in 2011 for $7 million. He also bought the neighboring properties, turning the area into a private compound.
In 2012, Zuckerberg began buying the four nearby properties, spending a total of $43 million on these purchases.
He first rented these homes back to their former owners, with plans to tear them down and rebuild. However, local officials rejected his plan, so he proposed a new plan to renovate two of the homes and rebuild the other two as single-story houses.
In 2013, he bought a 5,500-square-foot townhouse in San Francisco for $10 million. This home, built in 1928, sits on a 9,800-square-foot lot with 70 feet of sidewalk frontage. He spent more than $1.6 million renovating this property.
In 2014, Zuckerberg bought two properties in Kauai, Hawaii, for $100 million, covering 750 acres along a private beach. In 2017, he purchased another 89 acres nearby for more than $45 million. By January 2022, his land holdings in Kauai had grown to 1,400 acres after he bought an additional 100 acres.
In 2018, Zuckerberg spent $59 million on two connected private waterfront properties on Lake Tahoe, giving him 600 feet of private waterfront along the lake.
Mark Zuckerberg’s path from a dorm room at Harvard to becoming one of the wealthiest people in the world shows his vision, determination, and creativity.
His development of Facebook changed the way people communicate around the world, linking billions of people and building a digital community. Beyond his business success, Zuckerberg’s focus on giving back through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative shows his commitment to making a difference in society.
His work, from improving medical research to supporting education, is meant to help create a better future for everyone. With his constant drive and impactful contributions, Zuckerberg’s legacy continues to inspire innovation and generosity across the globe.
