Mark Zuckerberg: we all are familiar with this name which has become a household. How many times do you subconsciously check Facebook throughout the day? Well, my answer would be about a couple of dozens. The very Facebook which has become an integral part of our day to day lived was once only an idea in a brilliant man’s head. Facebook knows more about us than even our loved ones do, our hobbies, the places we visit, the people we love and so on. But, how much do you actually know about the man behind Facebook? We all know that he is among the richest and most popular men out there but other than that, most things about him don’t meet public eye. Today, let us enlighten you with some hidden facts about the Facebook man.
1. Young Inventor
At the mere age of 12, Mark was already inventing genius stuff. He is said to have created an instant messenger which he fondly called ZuckNet for his father. He wanted his dentist father to be aware of when his patients arrived. He said that it was little network inside the Zuckerberg family that kept the family connected. But eventually, his ZuckNet was defeated by the more popular AOL. We must say that his intelligence must have been innate and he was being a tech genius when children of that age were busy playing basketball. Kudos to you, Zuck!
2. Microsoft Worker
Before Zuckerberg became his own boss at Facebook, he was offered very alluring positions by the tech giant Microsoft. In his senior year, Mark co created an MP3 player along with Adam D’Angelo, who later created Quora. The app was called Synapse Media Player. You could say that it was the Spotify or Pandora of the early days. Microsoft had its eyes on the app and its brilliant creator but Mark and Adam acquired a patent for the app instead and went on to join Harvard.
3. Strange First Meeting
Did you know that Mark and his now wife Priscilla first met in the strangest way ever? They first crossed paths at the line of a bathroom in Harvard during a fraternity party. Mark was in his sophomore year when he awkwardly asked Priscilla out by saying “I’d rather go on a date with you than finish my take-home midterm.” We find it funny and yet amazing how this duo ended up falling in love and eventually marrying after this very awkward first impression. They are both proud parents and active philanthropists together now.
4. FaceMash
We can assume how ashamed Zuckerberg must be of his former creation called FaceMash. A scorned Zuckerberg decided that it would be a good idea to place two women’s photo side by side and enable students to vote on the more attractive one. He challenged Harvard’s web security system and successfully violated its privacy policy and copyright to download the pictures of the students. He then went on to create FaceMash with an algorithm that would track the students’ votes. Zuckerberg isn’t very proud of this nefarious project anymore, it seems.
5. Sued for Stealing
Apparently, the original idea for Facebook wasn’t Zuckerberg’s as it seems. Harvard students Divya Narendra, Cameron Winklevoss and his brother Tyler Winklevoss sued Zuckerberg for stealing their idea of a social network to be able to connect all Harvard students. In 2002, Divya innovated the idea of a social network that could connect his fellow students; he conferred about the idea with his friends Cameron and Tyler who were immediately interested. Divya then seeked help from one of his senior friends named Sanjay who wrote the first program for the project. But soon, Sanjay graduated and unfortunately wasn’t able to work on the project any longer. The three then approached another friend Victor who suggested seeking help from the young Zuckerberg. The young man was immediately on board and secret data and coding were shared between them. But Zuckerberg soon started avoiding the three and later they found out about Facebook. He was sued by them and had to compensate $65 million to the three and part of the Facebook shares to Divya.
6. College Dropout
You would think that such a tech genius would at least be a graduate but you are wrong. Mark dropped out of Harvard in his sophomore to concentrate on Facebook which was becoming more popular by the day. He wanted Facebook to end up as an international sensation. Fortunately for him though, Harvard presented him with an honorary degree in 2017 which made him a graduate after all.
7. Blue Facebook
There is an unshared reason for Facebook for being mostly blue. Apparently, Zuckerberg suffers from partial color blindness from red-green colors which makes him see blue most clearly. It comes as no shock to us anymore why the Facebook logo is blue. Even the best of all mans are beautifully flawed in a way or another. This should be a sweet and meaningful reminder to all of us that none of us are made perfect.
8. The Social Network
Zuckerberg’s backstory met the public eye mainly through the movie “The Social Network” made by Aaron Sorkin in 2010. Everything seemed to be going upwards for Facebook in 2010, with its worth reaching $23 billion and its popularity getting out of bounds. And then, The Social Network released reciting Zuckerberg’s doom. The film which was applauded by both audience and the critics was like a mind blowing biography of Facebook. The film convincingly painted a completely different picture of Zuckerberg than all of use were used to. It revealed lies and betrayals entangled in court cases. We might never know if the film narrated the absolute truth but one thing that we are aware of is that Zuckerberg wasn’t happy with it. He cleverly deemed the movie not fully accurate and even hurtful at times.
9. Simple Rides
Despite being a multi-billionaire, Mark’s ride choices don’t depict his wealth. He prefers very humble rides such as Honda Fit, an Acura TSX and a Volkswagen Hatchback. At a time when other billionaire CEOs drive around in flashy million dollar rides, Zuckerberg owns vehicles which cost under $30,000 each. He also humbly prefers a generally simple lifestyle.
10. Monotone Fashion
Zuckerberg’s choice in fashion is also quite monotonous and down to earth. He is almost always spotted in the same shade of grey or blue T-shirt and a pair of jeans. He confessed that he dresses in the same outfit everyday to save time and energy. He prefers to make as few decisions as possible and choosing daily outfits isn’t an important decision to make for him. He borrowed this lifestyle choice from other geniuses like Steve Jobs and Albert Einstein.
11. High Security
If Zuck isn’t frugal in one matter, it’s security. This high profile CEO is rumored to spend a whopping $20,000 daily on security expenses amounting to $7.3 million yearly. Facebook let its investors know that the amount may increase to $10 million the coming year in protecting its prized CEO and his entire house. This amount is the costliest compared to other tech giant CEOs and Zuckerberg surely takes the cake in this matter. The reason behind the costs are his extensive travels which includes payments for luxury hotels, bodyguards, private flights and so on.
12. Many Properties
Zuckerberg claimed the position of the fifth richest man in the world in 2018. Even though the man dresses in simple clothes and drives inexpensive cars, he seems to be really splurging on real estate properties. Zuckerberg bought a 5,000 square feet home in Palo Alto in 2011 which costs approximately $7 million. The following year, he began spending on properties surrounding his house and spent more than $30 million on four houses with plans to rebuild them. He splurged even more in buying another house in 2013 in San Francisco and spent $1 million in remodelling it. However, his most expensive buy so far has been the island of Kauai: the Kahu’aina Plantation, a 357-acre former sugarcane plantation, and Pila’a Beach, a 393-acre property with a white-sand beach. He spent over $100 million on the combined properties.
13. Misfortune
Unfortunately, Zuckerberg’s wife Priscilla miscarried three times before delivering a daughter. Zuckerberg opened up about their personal struggle and said that it was a lonely experience for both of them. There is a social stigma regarding miscarriages which stop people from openly discussing it. Zuckerberg also stated in his post that he hopes his post will encourage more people to talk about the stigma and stop suffering on their own. Priscilla gave birth to her first daughter, Max, in 2015 and the are parents to two lovely daughters now.
14. Stock Market
Zuckerberg debuted Facebook in the stock market 8 years after starting of its journey. As a result, Facebook gained one of the biggest initial public offerings in the history of the business. Ever since that fateful day, things have only looked up for Zuckerberg and his Facebook. Apparently, an extra $9 billion is being added to his net worth each year since the day.
15. Active Philanthropist
Mark is all about donating as much as he can. Lately, his goal has been to donate bigger amounts of money rather than earning even more. He admitted that he plans on donating 99% of his Facebook shares over the course of his lifetime. Adding to that, he only claims a salary of $1 a year from Facebook. Zuckerberg and Chan already donated millions of dollars to those in need.