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20 Things You Didn’t Know about Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg Attends Mobile World Congress

Mark Zuckerberg is a genius who has created many more software programs and platforms than just Facebook. However, Facebook is the platform that caught on the most and has become a highly profitable, global phenomenon that is used by everyone from high school students to government leaders that are campaigning for election to try and reach an audience. It has developed from a method of connected individuals to selling advertising space.

The following is a collection of those stories and the 20 things you didn’t know about Mark Zuckerberg.

Backyard Marriage

Despite Zuckerberg’s enormous wealth, he and his wife Priscilla decided to get married in the back yard of his $7 million mansion. This is a far cry from other celebrities who went all out their wedding plans, like Kim and Kanye. This just goes to show you that you do not necessarily need a giant wedding and should share the special occasion with those who you love. Also, the Zuckerberg’s served a low-key menu with budget-friendly Mexican food and sushi. Do you think they sprung for tabletop guacamole?

Co-Developed Synapse Media Player

While in high school, Zuckerberg create a music app called Synapse Music Player that utilized artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze the music listening habits of user’s. AOL and Microsoft approached him with offers totaling in the millions of dollars to continue developing the application. Zuckerberg turned down the offers and decided to attend Harvard University and did not continue to peruse the project after entering college.

Created FaceMash

While at Harvard University in 2003, Zuckerberg create a website called FaceMash. This was a “hot or not” type of website in which the user voted for the best-looking individual from a variety of images of Harvard dorm students. Within only days of launch, the school shut it down indicating that it was a breach of individual privacy and security. In addition to the cancellation of the site, Zuckerberg had to issue a public apology for the website. The code behind FaceMash led to the creation of Facebook. Shortly after the site was shutdown, it sold on a website auction site for around $30,000.

Facebook was launched from His Dorm Room

After Harvard shut down FaceMash, Zuckerberg developed a new website called thefacebook.com from his dorm room in February 2004. The premise of the site was to create a platform in which college students were able to stay connected in a digital realm. After moving to tech-center, Palo Alto, California, Zuckerberg decided to drop “the” from the name, thus creating Facebook.

Forbes’ Richest People

In 2011, Zuckerberg broke onto the Top 20 list of Forbes’ richest people in the United States with an estimated value of $17.5 billion. As of the Forbes 2016 list, he has doubled his wealth and is the world’s 16th richest person with a total wealth value of #34.5 billion. Since the beginning of Facebook, the company has scooped up additional companies that can grow and add value to the social networking site. Also, he has continuously improve the site with a variety of functions and advertising space for online companies. After this was implemented, other social media giants followed suit by offering their own advertising platforms.

His Wife Made Him Sign a Relationship Contract

In September 2010, Zuckerberg invited his now win, Priscilla, who was a medical student styding at the University of California, San Francisco , to move into his rented Palo Alto residence. Prior to moving into the location, she hit him with a Relationship Contract that detailed he was required to provide her with a minimum of one-date per week and a minimum of 100 minutes of alone time in a location that is not their apartment and not at the Facebook offices. Of course he accepted the contract and now they are happily married.

Long Legal Battle with the Winklevoss Twins

While Zuckerberg has been involved in numerous legal disputes over Facebook, his longest was in a battle with the Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss who accused him of stealing the Facebook idea. They sent him a cease-and-desist letter that accused him of independently developing thefacebook.com while hired to work on their social networking project known as the HarvardConnection. The battle finally ended in 2009 with a settlement valued at over $60 million. The battle took five years and a lot of court time to resolve.

Mark Disliked the Social Network

After seeing The Social Network, the founder of Facebook apparently left the theater huffing and puffing about the film. The Social Network is a movie that is loosely based on his life. The aspect that Zuckerberg disliked the most about the movie was that it portrayed him as creating Facebook to get girls or to get into exclusive clubs. He further noted that the film’s creators seemed to not be able to wrap their head around the idea that an individual would like to create something innovative because they enjoy building things. Of course the movie was embellished for the sake of the audience.

Mark is Color Blind

There is one sole reason that Facebook and its entire branding strategy are blue: mark is color blind. Since birth, he has been afflicted with the red-green type of color blindness in which he can see the color blue the best. As a result, Facebook’s color scheme was created in the color that he is able to easily view: blue. This color has since become synonymous with Facebook and the perfect visual representation of this branding style and strategy. There have been many rumors floating around the Internet that the reason Facebook has this color is because Zuckerberg is blue in the face. His color blindness puts this theory to rest.

Mark is Vegetarian

Do not show up at their private island with a pot roast, you will be shunned. In 2011, Mark eliminated meat from his daily diet by citing the reason that in order to practice thankfulness, he wants to be more connected to the food in which he consumes. Therefore, he did not want eat the animals that gave up their lives so that he can consume them.

Nicknamed Slayer

Prior to being called a billionaire or “sir”, Zuckerberg was referred to as “Slayer” by his Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity brothers. This nickname was more related to his fraternity duties and less with his dating reputation. Zuckerberg was the house treasurer and responsible for collecting dues from the active brothers. Apparently he was relentless at tracking down those who owed dues for the upcoming quarter. The punishment of having Zuckerberg constantly down your back fits the crime of not paying on-time.

One of the Richest Couples on the Planet

Boasting a net worth of over $40 million, a $7 million Palo Alto, California mansion and a 750-acre piece of land on the North Shore of Kauai, Hawaii, Mark and Priscilla are considered to be one of the richest couples in the world. It is safe to assume that they do not shop at the 99-cent store. However, they are well-known for being charitable. In a recent press conference, the couple announced that they have plans to give away 99-percent of their Facebook stocks to charitable causes.

Priscilla and Mark Met at a Fraternity Party

When nature is calling, true love may appear. One night at Harvard while Priscilla and Mark were separately at a fraternity party and did not know each other, they first laid eyes while in line for the bathroom. She said that he came across as this nerdy guy who was a little bit out there. Little did she know that he was going to become one of the most influential individuals in history?

Priscilla’s Fashion Sense

Part of being love means that you do not care if your man ever changes his outfit. According to Priscilla, she does not mind that he wears a hoodie every day and only cares that it is appropriate for the function in which they are attending. As much as he loves hoodies, Zuckerberg can never wear them to weddings or baby showers. However, wearing them to work or press conferences is fine.

Priscilla is in Third

In the rare interviews with Mark’s wife Priscilla (she does not like to be in the spotlight), she told reports that she comes in third with Mark. Obviously first place is Facebook as he is constantly working to improve the social networking site. His second priority is the Beast, their Hungarian sheepdog who actually has his own Facebook page. Do you think he has posted any photographs of himself

Priscilla is Also Successful

Mark is not the only part of that couple making money and being at the top of his field. In 2003, Priscilla was the valedictorian of her class and continued on to the University of California in San Francisco as a pediatrician major. She also co-founded a nonprofit private school located in East Palo Alto, California known as the Primary School.

Was the Most Followed Person on Google+

Years after the launch of Facebook, Google attempted to shove their version of social networking down the throats of the world. Upon launch, Zuckerberg joined the website immediately. He claimed that this was validation for his vision of the entirety of social networks. Ironically, he became the most followed user on Google+ almost instantly. Funny enough, his profit contains his photograph along with the phrase, “I make things.”

Worst Dressed Men

In 2011, GQ released an article titled, GQ’s Worst-Dressed Men of Silicon Valley. Due to his plain and simple dressing style, Zuckerberg topped that list. He is regularly seen in his trademark tee shirt and jeans which are very casual and something to wear around the house. Zuckerberg has never been known to be an ostentatious owner. Instead, he likes to keep situations casual which is why he chooses to wear a tee shirt, hoodies and jeans.

Zuckerberg Invented AOL Instant Messenger One Year before AOL

While working at his father’s dental practice, they needed a way to communicate between the home and office. In middle school, Mark created ZuckNet, a completely functional instant messaging platform that allowed for two-way communication from any two or more individuals that had a dedicated Internet connection. Ironically, this software was developed one-year prior to AOL Instant Messenger. Of course, at the time, the Zuckerberg family had no idea that such an innovation would rise in popularity.

Zuckerberg’s Yearly Salary is $1

When CEO’s are in charge of an extremely profitable company, they will give themselves a salary of only $1 as a standard tax loophole. In Zuckerberg’s case, he does not do this to get out of paying taxes. In fact, he pays a considerable amount on the alternative income tax made from compensations and stock options. The $1 salary actually protects him from specific tax liabilities while ensuring that he earns a performance-based salary as opposed to the company and shareholders just cutting him a check.

Mark Zuckerberg and his story are quick amazing and inspirational. As a result of his numerous innovative ideas and his team of talented employees, they have been able to take Facebook to the next level financially and with regards to user-friendliness. Social networking has changed the way in which we live and conduct our daily lives. The social networking movement all started with Facebook and the idea that Mark Zuckerberg put into place.

Shortly after Facebook launch, multiple other social networking sites, such as Twitter and Instagram, hit the public as a different method of keeping in touch with people. Luckily, there is room in this space for multiple players to grow and expand their empires together. The aforementioned are 20 facts that you may not have known about Mark Zuckerberg. Some are surprising while others are not.

Garrett Parker

Written by Garrett Parker

Garrett by trade is a personal finance freelance writer and journalist. With over 10 years experience he's covered businesses, CEOs, and investments. However he does like to take on other topics involving some of his personal interests like automobiles, future technologies, and anything else that could change the world.

Read more posts by Garrett Parker

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