Mark Zuckerberg is not the same guy that Jesse Eisenberg famously (and unflatteringly) played in “The Social Network.”
Yes, the Facebook co-founder may still have an unhealthy affinity for grey hoodies. But he’s now a philanthropist, education investor, aspiring artificial intelligence creator and a new dad.
He also just might be the best CEO in America.
Facebook’s stock soared on Thursday after the company reported sales and profits that blew away Wall Street’s expectations.
Remember when the company went public in 2012 and people were worried that Facebook didn’t get mobile?
Facebook now generates 80% of its overall ad revenue from mobile and more than 930 million people access Facebook on a mobile device every day.
The acquisition of Instagram, once mocked because it cost a then whopping $1 billion, has turned out to be an amazing bargain. The same may eventually be said about Facebook’s purchases of WhatsApp and virtual reality company Oculus as well.
But is Zuckerberg the best CEO around? Although you could make a strong case for him. I’m not sure he deserves that honor just yet.
For what it’s worth, I chose Costco CEO Craig Jelinek as CEO of the year in 2015 for how he’s been able to hurt Walmart and also fend off Amazon.
And I declared in a 2013 piece that Starbucks chief Howard Schultz may be the best CEO of all-time.
What do you think? I asked my followers on Twitter. (And yes, I realize the irony of doing this on Twitter instead of Facebook.)
In the first few hours after I set up the poll, only about a third of the respondents said they thought Zuck was numero uno.
Several people said Schultz was the best.
Others thought the honor should go to Disney’s Bob Iger, Google’s Larry Page, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, T-Mobile’s John Legere, Netflix’s Reed Hastings, Under Armour’s Kevin Plank or Tesla’s Elon Musk.
I think many of these CEOs deserve to be in the conversation. I’d add Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Southwest’s Gary Kelly and Pepsi’s Indra Nooyi to the list too.
But it’s also worth noting that Zuckerberg is only 31 years old. If Facebook maintains this momentum, then he may be a no-brainer choice as best CEO a few years from now.
Plus, Facebook as a company is still relatively young. It’s going to turn 12 on February 4.
Zuckerberg posted earlier this month that he wants this to be known as #friendsday
He should celebrate. Facebook clearly has a lot of friends. And the company is worth more than $300 billion. Not bad for a tween.