Mark Zuckerberg – who turned 30 on May 14 — has created a generation who want to achieve it all before they are 30. This obsession has flagged many self-help books, seminars and even films. But Zuckerberg’s achievement is undeniably nothing short of extraordinary. He co-founded the most successful networking site Facebook. A name synonymous with this age.
A Harvard drop-out, Zuckerberg is a self-made billionaire worth $26.6bn (£15.8bn), making him the 22nd wealthiest person in the world. At 30, he has made enough to take a salary of $1 a year, a feat taken on by Apple’s late Steve Jobs, Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin, amongst others. However, it does not mean he takes home no money, in 2013 he got nearly $3.3 billion by exercising stock options. His company also spent roughly $650,000 for his private jet travel.
He’s not the standard billionaire, living in a $7million home he shares with wife Priscilla Chan who he married in the backyard of their house in 2012, nine years after meeting her at a line for the bathroom at a Harvard frat party. The hoodie wearing silicon giant also reportedly drives a $40,000 black Volkswagen GTI.
Zuckerberg has marketed himself as a common man, but he is no average Joe. With quirks of his own – he likes challenging himself, setting goals for the 12 months ahead. In 2010 he learned Mandarin and the following year he only ate animals he had slaughtered himself. Last year he challenged himself to meet someone outside of Facebook every day, while 2014’s goal is to write a thank you note every day.
Facebook’s success has seen it become from just a social networking platform started in a dorm room in 2004 to making its NASDAQ stock market debut on May 18 2012 valuing the company at $104bn. It has also now acquired new ventures, in a landmark deal it acquired WhatsApp, a mobile messaging service for $19 billion. This makes the 2009 founded company the biggest acquisition since buying Instagram in 2012 for $1bn.
With speculation of Zuckerberg on a spending spree, Facebook announced a $2-billion deal to buy start-up Oculus, the company behind virtual reality headgear that promises to let people truly dive into their friends’ lives. Buying it puts Facebook in competition with Sony for development of advanced virtual reality headsets. In a post Zuckerberg said Oculus’s mission is to enable people to experience the impossible. With this venture the company will sail into an alternative realm of networking.
Zuckerberg’s journey is fascinating, with many individuals craving to achieve what he has. In 2013, Forbes named him on the list of world’s most powerful people in the 24th spot. He has also been voted America’s most popular CEO with a 99% approval rating among his employees. No wonder his influence grows in the mighty world of Silicon Valley, with a future that seems limitless. Â