Here is a look at life of Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook.
Personal:
Birth date: May 14, 1984
Birth place: Dobbs Ferry, New York
Birth name: Mark Elliot Zuckerberg
Father: Edward Zuckerberg, dentist
Mother: Karen (Kempner) Zuckerberg, psychiatrist
Marriage: Priscilla Chan (May 19, 2012-present)
Children: Maxima
Education: Attended Harvard University, 2002-2004
Other Facts:
Is red-green colorblind.
Captain of his high school fencing team.
In high school, co-created a program called Synapse that recommended music.
Met his wife, Priscilla Chan, at Harvard.
Timeline:
2003 – Creates Facemash at Harvard, a website that pairs photos of Harvard students and has users vote on who is more attractive. The pictures were taken from a protected area of Harvard’s computer network. Harvard forces Zuckerberg to take the site down.
November 2003 – Harvard seniors Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra enlist Zuckerberg to work on their website ConnectU.
February 4, 2004 – Zuckerberg, roommates Chris Hughes and Dustin Moskovitz and friend Eduardo Saverin launch Facebook, an online directory to connect people at college, from Zuckerberg’s Harvard dorm room.
March 2004 – Thefacebook.com expands to Stanford, Columbia and Yale.
May 2004 – ConnectU launches and contains many of the same features as Thefacebook.
September 2004 – The Winklevosses and Narendra file a lawsuit against Zuckerberg, claiming he stole the idea for Facebook from them.
September 2005 – Facebook expands into high schools.
September 2006 – Facebook is opened to anyone over the age of 13.
2008 – Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra settle their lawsuit against Zuckerberg.
September 2010 – Donates $100 million to the Newark, New Jersey, public schools system.
October 1, 2010 – “The Social Network” is released. The film is a fictional version of how Facebook started.
December 2010 – Signs the Giving Pledge, a public pledge to give away the majority of his wealth to philanthropic causes.
2010 – Is named Time Person of the Year.
April 2011 – A US appeals court rejects the Winklevoss’ attempt to void their earlier settlement with Facebook. The Winklevosses argued that their $65 million settlement wasn’t enough because Facebook misrepresented the value of company stock.
May 18, 2012 – Facebook IPO – trading opens at $42.05 and closes at $38.23.
May 23, 2012 – Three Facebook shareholders file a lawsuit in federal court against Zuckerberg, underwriter Morgan Stanley and others, alleging they withheld crucial financial information about Facebook before the IPO.
October 4, 2012 – Announces that Facebook has passed one billion active monthly users.
December 2012 – Announces, on his Facebook page, that he has donated 18 million Facebook shares to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
October 14, 2014 – Announces he is donating $25 million to the Centers for Disease Control Foundation to combat Ebola.
February 06, 2015 – Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, donate $75 million to San Francisco General Hospital. Chan worked there previously during her pediatric residency.
February 2015 – Real estate developer Mircea Voskerician files a lawsuit against Zuckerberg regarding property rights he sold to him at a steep discount, alleging Zuckerberg agreed to provide him networking opportunities. Zuckerberg claims Voskerician is using “extortive” measures.
May 4, 2015 – His family’s charitable organization and others invest $100 million in AltSchool, a chain of schools that is technology-focused and claims to offer a more individualized education.
November 19, 2015 – Zuckerberg announces that he and his wife will give $20 million to Education Super Highway, a nonprofit that helps public schools buy affordable high-speed Internet access.
December 1, 2015 – Zuckerberg and Chan pledge to donate 99% of their Facebook stock — worth about $45 billion — over their lifetime to promote equality and the human potential.
March 20, 2017 – Ranks No. 5 on the Forbes list of billionaires, with a net worth of $56 billion at the time of publication.
September 27, 2017 – After President Donald Trump tweets that Facebook has always been anti-Trump, Zuckerberg responds on Facebook, saying, “Trump says Facebook is against him. Liberals say we helped Trump. Both sides are upset about ideas and content they don’t like. That’s what running a platform for all ideas looks like.”