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Mark Zuckerberg is a self-taught computer programmer and founder, chairman, and CEO of Meta (FB), Facebook, co-founded by Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes, and Eduardo Saverin at Harvard University’s Bedroom in 2004. In the third quarter of 2020, Meta recorded 2.74 billion monthly active users. According to Entrepreneurs Media, Zuckerberg’s net worth was about $100 billion in December 2020.
Mark Zuckerberg: An Intro
Mark Zuckerberg was born on May 14, 1984, in White Plains, New York, and showed an early interest in technology. At a local college, he studied the BASIC programming language. And at the age of 12, he created an instant-messaging software that his father used in his office.
Zuckerberg was a Harvard University student. He left out after his sophomore year to concentrate on the development of Facebook. FaceMash is a website for assessing the beauty of other Harvard students. And HarvardConnection.com, an online social networking platform, spawned the site.
In 2004, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra, the three credited founders of HarvardConnection.com, sued Zuckerberg for allegedly stealing intellectual property from the website. They reached a multi-million dollar settlement of cash and stock options in 2008. The Winklevoss twins tried to reopen the lawsuit in 2011, but the court denied their request.
The Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Facebook
Facebook secured $12.7 million in venture finance in mid-2005, allowing it to expand its reach to hundreds of institutions and high schools. One year later, the social network was exposed to the whole public, and Yahoo! made an offer of $1 billion to buy the firm, which Zuckerberg turned down.
When Facebook went public in 2012, it raised $16 billion. Making it the most successful online initial public offering (IPO) in history. The photo-sharing startup Instagram was taken by Facebook the same year. And Zuckerberg married Priscilla Chan in a surprise ceremony the day after the IPO.
Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan
Zuckerberg has made news for his charity. A $100 million contribution to Newark, New Jersey, schools in 2010. After donating 18 million shares of Facebook stock to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation in Mountain View, Calif., in 2014. The periodical Philanthropy named Zuckerberg and Chan the most generous American philanthropists of the previous year.
On December 1, 2015, Zuckerberg and Chan wrote a letter to their daughter Max. In which they unveiled the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Which aims to “unite individuals across the world to expand human potential. And promote equality for all children in the future generation.” In the post, Zuckerberg and Chan stated that “personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people, and building strong communities” will be the “initial areas of focus,” and that “we will give 99 percent of our Facebook shares—currently about $45 billion—during our lives to advance this mission.”
Cambridge Analytica’s controversies
Meta has been criticized for gathering and selling personal data. Postings, and instant messaging of its members almost from its beginning. These allegations intensified immediately after the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Some say that Russian-funded targeted advertising influenced American votes. The New York Times and The Observer revealed in March 2018 that Cambridge Analytica. A U.K.-based political consulting business had engaged an independent researcher. To get data on 50 million Facebook users without their consent. The purpose of Cambridge Analytica, according to the New York Times was to use the data for its trademark “psychographic modeling,”. With the goal of “reading voters’ thoughts” and affecting election outcomes.
In April 2018, Facebook confirmed that the data of 87 million users had been shared with Cambridge Analytica. Not the 50 million previously estimated.
Early this month, Zuckerberg appeared on Capitol Hill. To speak on Facebook’s handling of customer data before House and Senate committees. Zuckerberg said in prepared statements before the Senate. That Facebook had helped people connect amid the #MeToo movement and many calamities. The statement went on to clarify. That, everyone else, Zuckerberg, and Facebook learned. About Cambridge Analytica’s participation via the media. Besides “safeguarding our platform,”. “investigating other applications,” and “creating tighter controls,”. Zuckerberg highlighted activities. That Facebook planned to do to avoid future events of this sort.
Purchasies by Facebook
Over the years, Meta has bought hundreds of firms. Including Instagram for $1 billion in 2012. WhatsApp for $22 billion in cash and stock in 2014. Oculus VR for $2 billion in 2014 and a variety of other startups ranging from artificial intelligence (AI) to identification systems.