Mark Zuckerberg is one of the most prominent tech entrepreneurs of our time, and not without reason. He’s known for founding Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Meta Quest, Ray-Ban Meta, and innovative products like the Orion AR glasses. However, Zuckerberg didn’t start this empire alone.
It all began in the 2000s after Harvard University shut down Facemash, a program Zuckerberg created in his sophomore year. Facemash allowed users to vote on the attractiveness of two photos to generate a ranking. Following this, Zuckerberg started developing Facebook, initially meant to connect university students.
These Are the People Who Helped Create Facebook 20 Years Later
Zuckerberg shared an early version of Facebook with his roommate Dustin Moskovitz, who helped him attract new users. Students Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, and Chris Hughes later joined the project. Then, Facebook expanded beyond Harvard University under the thefacebook.com domain and became a company. Its first investment came in June 2004 from Peter Thiel.
In 2005, the company acquired the facebook.com domain, which continues to be used for the social media platform. Meanwhile, the parent company changed its name to Meta in 2021. Zuckerberg is still in a top leadership position and has three daughters with his wife, Priscilla Chan, whom he met during his student days. The other founders pursued different paths.
Dustin Moskovitz. Moskovitz, who was studying economics, dropped out of college to devote himself entirely to Facebook. He helped hire the company’s first employees and held key roles as CTO and VP of engineering. In October 2008, when the social media platform was on track to reach 200 million unique visitors, which meant doubling MySpace’s numbers, Moskovitz left Zuckerberg to co-found Asana.
From right to left, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes, and Mark Zuckerberg.
According to Forbes, Moskovitz became the world’s youngest billionaire in 2012. He’s currently 40 years old and has a fortune of $15.5 billion. He and his wife, Cari Tuna, founded the Open Philanthropy foundation. Despite his substantial wealth, Moskovitz still rides his bicycle around San Francisco and travels on commercial flights.
Eduardo Saverin
Eduardo Saverin. Saverin initially provided capital to help Zuckerberg launch Facebook, contributing $1,000 and later $18,000. He became unaffiliated with the company in 2005 after Zuckerberg reportedly reduced his ownership, as depicted in the movie The Social Network and reported by Business Insider. Saverin, born in São Paulo, Brazil, gave up U.S. citizenship and relocated to Singapore.
After leaving Facebook, Saverin pursued a career as a venture capitalist and supported startups like the Qwiki app. At 42 years old, he enjoys a lavish lifestyle, being the richest person in Singapore and indulging in luxury cars and exclusive clubs. His wealth has grown significantly in recent years, increasing from $10.6 billion in 2022 to $28 billion now.
Andrew McCollum. McCollum was a classmate of Zuckerberg’s and designed Facebook’s first web interface. He left his studies to work for the social media platform, but in 2006, he left the company to return to Harvard, where he earned a degree in computer science. Over time, he became a venture capitalist and invested in more than twenty startups. At 41, he’s now the CEO of Philo, an on-demand content service, and is married to sociologist Gretchen Sisson.
Chris Hughes. Hughes worked in the early days of Facebook but decided to step away for a while to complete his undergraduate degree at Harvard. Once he achieved that goal, Hughes returned to the company and served as a spokesperson for a time. In 2007, he joined former President Barack Obama’s campaign team and helped launch BarackObama.com. He later bought the magazine The New Republic. He’s now 40 years old, married to Sean Eldridge, and has a net worth of $430 million.
Image | Alex Haney | CHINICT(CC BY-SA 3.0)
View 0 comments