Alex Carson
Just about everyone either has Facebook or has heard about Facebook. Wherever you go, it is not uncommon to see people scrolling through their Facebook newsfeed. The mastermind behind Facebook is Mark Zuckerberg. You may have heard his story in the news, in books, or in the film, The Social Network. You may know his story, but you likely don’t know everything. Here are 21 little-known facts about Facebook’s creator and social media czar Mark Zuckerberg.
Going Public
In 2012, Mark Zuckerberg took his company public on the stock market, and it had one of the biggest public offerings market (IPO) in history. Since then, Mark has added an additional $9 billion to his net worth each year.
Star Wars
Mark is Jewish and was raised in Westchester, New York. As a child, he was obsessed with Star Wars. He loved the movies so much that his bar mitzvah had a Star Wars theme.
Programming Prodigy
Mark learned how to code at a very young age. He received job offers from AOL and Microsoft before he even graduated from high school. He turned down the job offers so that he could attend Harvard University. It was in his Harvard dorm room that he created Facebook.
Priscilla Chan
Mark met his wife, Priscilla Chan, at a party during his sophomore year. He asked her out online, and he wrote, “I’d rather go on a date with you than finish my take-home midterm.” The two went out and later fell in love. They were married in 2012.
Facemash
Mark isn’t very proud of his first website creation called Facesmash. The site allowed Harvard students to view two classmates, and vote on which one was more attractive.
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss
Harvard students Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss claimed that Mark stole their idea for a social media site. They filed a lawsuit, and Mark settled by giving them over one million Facebook shares.
College Dropout
Although Mark is one of the world’s most prominent entrepreneurs, he is a college dropout. During his sophomore year, he left Harvard to move to Silicone Valley to focus on Facebook. In 2017, Harvard gave him an honorary degree.
Colorblind
Mark suffers from red-green colorblindness. The shade that he can see the most clearly is blue, which is why he used it for Facebook’s signature color.
Not a Fan
Many people know Mark’s story from the 2010 film, The Social Network. Mark wasn’t a fan of the movie due to its many inaccuracies. He also says that some of the characterizations hurt his feelings.
Youngest CEO
Mark was once a broke college student and managed to build up a net worth of $56 billion by 2018. Five years before that, Forbes put Facebook on the Fortune 500 list, and at 28-years-old, he was named the youngest CEO on the list.
Mark’s Cars
Even though Mark is a multi-billionaire, he prefers the simple life. While people with his kind of wealth drive expensive cars, Mark owns a Honda Fit, an Acura TSX, and a Volkswagen hatchback. None of his cars cost more than $30,000.
Relaxed Style
Mark doesn’t’ walk around in flashy suits like most wealthy CEOs. He prefers to wear jeans and a t-shirt. He often wears the same clothes for days to save time. This is a trick that he learned from Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs.
Security Costs
Even though Mark doesn’t spend a lot on his clothes or his cars, it is still expensive to be him. Facebook spends an average of $20,000 per day on security costs for Mark. This equals to about $7.3 million per year.
The Reason For High-Security Costs
Mark’s security costs are so steep because he travels so much for work. When he travels, he needs bodyguards, luxury accommodations, and private flights. In 2017, he made it his mission to visit every state in the U.S., which was very costly.
Property Owner
Mark owns plenty of properties. In 2014, he purchased the Kahu’aina Plantation and Pila’s Beach in Hawaii. Combined, these two properties span over 700 acres.
Daddy
Mark and Priscilla went through three miscarriages before they had their first daughter, Max in 2015. Two years later, they welcomed their second daughter, August. Mark says that he plans to limit his daughters’ time on Facebook and social media when they get older.
Russia
Mark has met with plenty of world leaders since Facebook gained so much popularity. One of his most covered visits was when he traveled to Moscow in 2012. There, he spoke to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev about boosting Facebook’s presence in Russia.
Cambridge-Analytica Data Breach
After the Cambridge-Analytica data breach, Mark appeared in front of congress to shed light on Facebook’s use and possible misuse of private information. He testified for 10 hours and drank a lot of water.
Taking a Page From Bill Gates’ Book
Like Bill Gates, Mark plans to donate more money than he makes. He plans to give away 99 percent of his Facebook shares throughout his lifetime. He also lowered his CEO salary to $1 per year.
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
In 2015, Mark and Priscilla started the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Not only are they planning to improve the quality of housing and education, but they are also taking on the ambitious goal of curing all diseases over the next couple of generations.
Clean Energy
Mark has invested a large amount of money into clean energy, including wind and solar farms. By 2020, he wants to switch his company to 100 percent renewable energy.
