Mark Zuckerberg

Computer programmer, Internet entrepreneur

Co-founder of Facebook

Net worth: US$63.7 billion (June 2017)

Mark Zuckerberg is famous worldwide, for having developed 'Facebook', the most widely used social networking website. At a very young age, he was taught how to write computer programs by his father, and tutor David Newman. In high school, he developed a music player, 'Synapse', and while still a student at 'Harvard University', he launched his website 'Facebook', along with college mates Chris Hughes, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, and Dustin Moskovitz. Though he was initially accused by some senior students, of having stolen their idea, his site's popularity was not affected. 'Facebook' saw a steady rise in the number of active users per month. The founder kept adding to the platform with services like 'Wirehog', 'Beacon' and 'Connect'. The website started out as a networking platform only for 'Harvard University', and then was opened for other colleges. Soon, it became available to general public, and gained widespread popularity for its user-friendly interface. Zuckerberg is now the chairman and CEO of the company 'Facebook, Inc', earning one dollar as his salary. His website has made him so popular that the film ‘The Social Network’, starring Jesse Eisenberg, was made based on a book, ‘The Accidental Billionaires’, which documented Mark’s life

Career

· The budding software developer began attending the 'Harvard University', majoring in psychology and computer science. During his days at the university, he built programmes titled 'CourseMatch' and 'Facemash'. While 'CourseMatch' helped students select their courses and decide on study groups, 'FaceMash' was meant for fun, allowing students to choose the best face among a selection of photos.

· In the next semester, in 2004, Mark launched a new website called 'Thefacebook.com'. He created the social networking site that along with friends Chris Hughes, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, and Dustin Moskovitz.

· He was accused of having stolen the ideas of senior students, Divya Narendra, and twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who had planned on a social media site called ‘The Harvard Connection’. As a settlement to the lawsuit, Zuckerberg had to give the three seniors Facebook shares worth 300 million dollars.

· Soon, Zuckerberg quit college, and began working on his site in a new office at Palo Alto, California. In 2004, along with his friends, he introduced 'Wirehog', a file sharing program, as a competition to fellow Harvard student, Wayne Chang's 'i2hub'.

· In 2005, 'Accel Partners', a company dealing in growth equities, funded 'Facebook' with 12.7 million dollars. Two years later, Mark launched 'Facebook Platform' to enable software developers to use 'Facebook' to build other applications.

· Within the next year, this brilliant software programmer introduced two other services within the 'Facebook' platform, called 'Beacon' and 'Connect'.

· 'Facebook' was initially meant for students of 'Harvard University', but was later distributed to other educational institutions including 'Yale', 'Dartmouth', 'Stanford' and 'Columbia'.

· Zuckerberg introduced a new project in 2013, titled 'Internet.org', in collaboration with cell phone firms like ‘Qualcomm’, ‘Samsung’, ‘Opera Software’, ‘Ericsson’, ‘Microsoft’, ‘MediaTek’, and ‘Reliance’. The aim of the project was to enable widespread use of Internet in developing countries.

· The same year, this software developer became the CEO and Chairman of the company ‘Facebook, Inc.’, and was offered one dollar as salary.

Major Works

· Zuckerberg shot to fame with his social networking site called ‘Facebook’, which started out as a connecting platform for students of ‘Harvard University’. Having reached out widely to the public, the site currently has 1.44 billion monthly users.

Awards & Achievements

• In 2010, this accomplished entrepreneur was named the 'Person of the Year', by 'Times' magazine.
• In 2011, 'The Jerusalem Post', an Israeli newspaper, named him the one of the 'Most Influential Jews'.