Everyone who has a Facebook or knows of Facebook, knows who Mark Zuckerberg is. Mark Zuckerberg is currently the CEO and co-founder of Facebook. Today, Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world.
FaceMash
Mark Zuckerberg got the idea of starting Facebook while he was attending Harvard. Before his idea for Facebook began, Mark Zuckerberg became popular at his college because of his creation of FaceMash. FaceMash was a website he had created for Harvard students to “vote” for the students who are more attractive. The website also displayed a list of students that were ranked from most attractive to least attractive.
This caused much controversy and made Mark Zuckerberg, one of the most popular students on campus. Harvard frowned upon the website Zuckerberg had created and said it breached security, violated copyrights, and violated individual privacy.
How it all Started
He was inspired by a newspaper article and began to learn about the benefits of online communication. He first created thefacebook.com which initially was an online communication platform for Harvard students. Thefacebook blew up amongst the Harvard students and then it began expanding to other schools and eventually it became worldwide as we know it today. Zuckerberg changed the name from thefacebook to just Facebook in 2005.
Today, Facebook is one of the most well-known social media platforms alongside Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter. Facebook has approximately 2.41 billion monthly active users, and the number of users that create accounts continue to increase every day. Facebook also has 1.59 billion daily logins and active users. Currently, Facebook is worth $531.13 billion.
Facebook has not only become a platform for users to be able to stay connected with each other and share moments on this social media platform, it has also become important for businesses. Approximately, 3 million businesses advertise on Facebook. 70% of the companies that use Facebook for marketing purposes are located outside of the U.S..
Businesses use Facebook as a way to market to their consumers through Facebook ads, promotion or product posts. Since there are billions of users that actively use Facebook, companies view it as a useful platform to reach audiences that could be interested in what their business is offering.
Net Worth
Mark Zuckerberg is worth $68.3 billion. However, he is Facebook’s lowest-paid employee.
Yes, it is true that Mark Zuckerberg pays himself a $1 USD salary. He is not the only CEO to have done this. He amongst other well-known CEO’s such as Evan Spiegel and Larry Page to give himself the $1 salary. Although it might seem odd for someone to want to do this, there are several reasons as to why this is done.
A common reason as to why CEO’s such as Mark Zuckerberg give themselves a $1 salary is because they are focused on growing the company’s stock. They are also looked at in a more positive light amongst their current and prospective shareholders. Another reason as to why they do this is because as CEO’s they have enough ownership of the company to the point where they do not need to be paid a salary. As of today, Mark Zuckerberg owns 15% of Facebook stock.
Companies Facebook Owns
Facebook also owns other companies that you know of. Facebook owns Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus VR, FriendFeed, and LiveRail.
- Instagram bought for $1 Billion
- WhatsApp bought for $19 Billion
- Oculus VR bought for $2.3 Billion and Facebook Stock
- FriendFeed bought for $47.5 Million and Facebook Stock
- LiveRail approximately bought for $450 Million
Facebook also owns Facebook Messenger which is an app that Facebook users can use to message each other.
Overall
According to Forbes, Mark Zuckerberg is ranked the fifth richest person in the world. He continues to announce different changes he wants to implement on Facebook. We can only wait and see what changes Zuckerberg implements on the app.
