Mark Zuckerberg is the co-founder and CEO of Facebook, one of the largest and most influential social media platforms in the world. Facebook has over 2.8 billion monthly active users as of October 2023 and is worth over $500 billion. But how did a young college student with no business experience build one of the biggest tech companies on the planet?
Mark’s childhood and early interest in programming
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg was born on May 14, 1984 in White Plains, New York to Edward and Karen Zuckerberg. He showed an early interest in computers and programming, creating basic messaging programs and games as a child. At age 12, he created an instant messaging tool he called “Zucknet” to communicate with his dentist father’s office.
In middle school, Zuckerberg created an early music player called Synapse, which used artificial intelligence to learn users’ listening habits. Microsoft and AOL expressed interest in buying Synapse and hiring Zuckerberg. While still in high school, he created a Pandora-like music streaming service called MP3.com that got a write up in BusinessWeek.
Studying computer science at Harvard
Zuckerberg enrolled at Harvard University in 2002 to study computer science and psychology. He had already built a reputation as a programming prodigy in high school. At Harvard, he continued to work on side projects and develop new software.
In his sophomore year, he created a program called CourseMatch that helped students choose their classes based on what their friends were taking. This demonstrated Zuckerberg’s interest in building software around social connections.
The inception of Facebook
In 2003, as a sophomore at Harvard, Zuckerberg started working on a new project. At the time, MySpace and Friendster were popular social media sites. Zuckerberg observed that there was demand for an online community focused exclusively around college students.
He conceived of a site called TheFacebook, which allowed Harvard students to create profiles, share photos, and connect with classmates. The idea took off immediately among Harvard students. Within the first month, over half of all Harvard undergraduates had registered.
Expanding to other colleges
Given the strong initial response at Harvard, Zuckerberg decided to expand TheFacebook to other colleges. He recruited friends Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes to help him program and market the site to other schools.
In March 2004, TheFacebook expanded to Stanford, Columbia, and Yale. It quickly spread to most other American universities. By December 2004, Facebook had 1 million registered users.
Moving to Palo Alto
In the summer of 2004 after his sophomore year, Zuckerberg moved to Palo Alto, California. He leased a small house and set up an office. Moskovitz and Hughes joined him in Palo Alto that summer.
During this time, Zuckerberg met Peter Thiel, who invested $500,000 in the company. This allowed Facebook to hire more engineers and fuel its expansion.
In California that summer, Zuckerberg and his team hammered out the features and design that defined the early Facebook. This included the iconic blue and white design and the News Feed for sharing updates.
Dealing with controversies and competition
As Facebook grew rapidly, Zuckerberg had to deal with various controversies and competitors that arose.
Legal challenges
In 2004, Divya Narendra and the Winklevoss twins accused Zuckerberg of stealing their idea for a Harvard social network called ConnectU. This launched a lengthy legal dispute that was eventually settled out of court for $65 million in 2008.
Around the same time, Zuckerberg faced allegations that he hacked into users’ computers to obtain private emails and photos. No charges were ever filed.
Competition from MySpace
As Facebook expanded beyond universities, it started encroaching on MySpace’s territory. MySpace was the largest social media site at the time.
Zuckerberg positioned Facebook as a premium product focused on user experience, in contrast to MySpace’s clutter and chaotic design. By 2008, Facebook overtook MySpace in worldwide traffic.
Yahoo acquisition offer
In 2006, Yahoo offered to buy Facebook for $1 billion. At the time, this seemed like an astronomical amount for a two-year old company run by a college student.
However, Zuckerberg believed Facebook was worth much more. He famously turned down the offer against the advice of his mentors and investors. Time proved Zuckerberg right.
Facebook’s continued growth
Despite challenges, Facebook continued its meteoric growth under Zuckerberg’s leadership in the late 2000s.
Opening up to the public
In September 2006, Facebook became available to anyone over 13 with a valid email address. This transition from college students opened up Facebook to a much larger audience.
To support open registration, Facebook launched advertising on the site for the first time. This became an increasingly important revenue stream moving forward.
International expansion
Facebook spread beyond the U.S. and English speaking countries by translating the site into other languages. In 2008, Facebook was available in Spanish, French, and German.
Then in 2010, it rolled out Arabic and Hebrew versions. By 2012, over 80% of Facebook users were outside the United States.
Acquiring Instagram
Facebook acquired the popular photo-sharing app Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion. This deal expanded Facebook’s mobile offerings.
Under Facebook, Instagram grew exponentially larger. It now has over 1 billion monthly users and is deeply integrated with Facebook’s advertising and data systems.
Taking Facebook public
Despite growing massive quickly, Facebook remained a private company with Zuckerberg firmly in control. That changed in 2012 when Facebook held one of the biggest tech IPOs ever.
The IPO
On May 18, 2012, Facebook went public and began trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol FB. The IPO raised $16 billion, valuing Facebook at over $100 billion.
It was the biggest ever IPO for a tech startup at the time. However, early trading was plagued by technical glitches on Nasdaq.
Stock slump
In the months after the IPO, Facebook struggled to meet investor expectations as its stock price dropped. There were concerns about whether Facebook could make money from mobile advertising.
Critics questioned if Zuckerberg had the experience to manage a public company. But Zuckerberg proved them wrong as Facebook deftly transitioned to mobile and profits surged over time.
Zuckerberg retains control
Despite going public, Zuckerberg maintained near complete control over Facebook thanks to his super-voting stock shares. This let him focus on long-term strategy without worrying about fickle shareholders.
Facebook’s impact on society
Under Zuckerberg, Facebook grew into one of the most influential companies in the world. It has had significant impact on society.
Connecting people
Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. It enables social connections across the globe on an unprecedented scale.
Spread of misinformation
However, Facebook has also been criticized for enabling the spread of misinformation, hate speech, and election interference by malicious actors exploiting its open platform. This prompted reforms to increase oversight of content.
Privacy concerns
Facebook’s data collection practices around users’ personal information have frequently stirred privacy concerns. Violations like the Cambridge Analytica scandal have led to tighter controls around data privacy.
Economic power
With massive profits and 2.8 billion users, Facebook wields huge economic power. Critics argue it has monopolized social media and should be broken up. But so far regulators have taken little concrete action.
Recent developments
Zuckerberg still runs Facebook today as CEO and chairman. He has ushered in pivots and new initiatives to keep the company relevant.
Facebook rebrand
In 2021, Facebook Inc changed its corporate name to Meta. This signals an emphasis on Zuckerberg’s vision for the metaverse, an immersive virtual reality future. However, the core Facebook app remains a cash cow.
Major acquisitions
In 2014, Facebook acquired the messaging app WhatsApp for $19 billion. In 2022, it bought the virtual reality company Oculus for $2 billion. These deals expand Facebook’s footprint.
Facing antitrust scrutiny
Facebook is currently facing antitrust investigations by the FTC and state attorneys general. However, meaningful action breaking up the company still seems unlikely.
Zuckerberg will likely continue steering Facebook based on his long-term roadmap.
Conclusion
Mark Zuckerberg’s creation of Facebook was an unlikely success story. He built the most used social network in the world starting as a college sophomore with no business training.
In the process, he became one of tech’s iconic CEOs. He overcame legal battles, competition and public scrutiny to define social media. Zuckerberg remains firmly in control of Facebook nearly 20 years later as it shapes communication and culture worldwide. While controversial, no one can deny the transformative impact he has had through launching Facebook.