Mark Zuckerberg

Biography

Zuckerberg's dorm-room directory became the largest social network in history, then a conglomerate — Meta — spanning Instagram, WhatsApp and billions of users. Two decades of privacy reckonings and antitrust fights have trailed that scale, alongside a pivot to AI and wearables.

American entrepreneur and programmer who launched Facebook from his Harvard dorm room in 2004.

Known for

Co-founding Facebook and leading its parent company, Meta.

Notable works & defining projects

• Facebook
• Instagram & WhatsApp (as Meta CEO)
• Reality Labs / Meta Quest

Notable achievements

• Co-founded Facebook in 2004; parent company Meta also owns Instagram and WhatsApp
• Named Time Person of the Year (2010)
• With Priscilla Chan, launched the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (2015)

Timeline

1. 2004Launched thefacebook from Harvard
2. 2012Facebook's IPO and the $1 billion acquisition of Instagram
3. 2021Rebranded the parent company as Meta, betting on virtual and augmented reality

Did you know?

• The first version of Facebook launched from his Harvard dorm room, Kirkland House, on 4 February 2004
• Before Facebook he built a music-recommendation program called Synapse that Microsoft and AOL tried to buy while he was still at school