Mark Zuckerberg
He has been recognized as one of The World’s Most Influential Scientists & Thinkers Of 2008 and runs an internationally acclaimed corporation that has blue-chips like Viacom, Yahoo, and Microsoft panting for a share. He is Mark Zuckerberg, 24-year old international tech success; founder and current CEO of the 70-million user social-networking site Facebook. For his tenacity and commitment to his company’s VMO, he was also proclaimed the Agenda Setters of 2007 list topnotcher by Silicon.com.
In the previous years, Facebook had reported buy-out offers of $750 million by Viacom, and a counter-offer of $1 billion by Yahoo!; all were politely turned down by the company. The most recent external investment involved Google being outbid by its rival, Microsoft, in the summer of 2007. For a mere 1.6% share in Facebook, Microsoft willingly gave $240 million in exchange. All throughout these overwhelming proposals, Mark Zuckerberg refuses to be a sell-out and stands by his conviction to see Facebook continue to shape the industry. “I’m here to build something for the long term. Anything else is a distraction,” he was once quoted.
The story of Facebook originated in the creator’s dormitory rooms. On February 2004, then college sophomore Mark Zuckerberg launched the first version of Facebook (called “Facemash”) in Harvard. The program was meant to be a campus-wide student directory for people-to-people connection. He simply wanted to make a point at the time; to prove that it could be done after the university expressed reservations about the project’s feasibility. He proved their doubts misplaced. His brilliant concept became an inter-university phenomenon that gradually became an international hit.
Mark Zuckerberg eventually came to the decision to start his own company. He moved to Palo Alto, California and began his legacy. Over the years he has introduced pioneer ideas that secured his place as one of the forerunners of social media evolution. The most remarkable and forward-thinking Facebook features include News Feed, Facebook Platform, and Facebook Beacon. Today, comScore Media Metrix traces 1% of all Internet time as spent on Facebook, making it the 6th most-trafficked site in the United States.
Mark Zuckerberg continues to remain as one of the most influential persons, not just in online communities, but in the ever-dynamic international business scene as well.
Visit Facebook, the world’s most popular social network site.