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From a Harvard dorm room to running apps used by more than three billion people a day
Mark Zuckerberg is the founder and chief executive of Meta Platforms, whose family of apps — Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and Threads — is used by billions of people every day. He became one of the youngest self-made billionaires in history and remains one of the most powerful figures in technology, steering Meta through privacy scandals, a costly bet on the metaverse and now an aggressive push into AI.
Zuckerberg was born on 14 May 1984 in White Plains, New York, and grew up in Dobbs Ferry. His father was a dentist and his mother a psychiatrist. He began programming as a child, building a messaging system for his father's dental office, and attended Phillips Exeter Academy.
At Harvard University, Zuckerberg created several small projects, including the controversial Facemash. On 4 February 2004, he launched "TheFacebook" with roommates and classmates including Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes and Andrew McCollum. It spread rapidly to other universities, and Zuckerberg left Harvard in 2005 to run the company full-time in California. (Harvard awarded him an honorary degree in 2017.)
Disputes over Facebook's origins led to lawsuits, later dramatised in the 2010 film The Social Network.
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 2006 | Facebook opens to everyone over 13; launches News Feed |
| 2012 | Acquires Instagram for about US$1 billion; Facebook goes public |
| 2014 | Acquires WhatsApp (about US$19 billion) and Oculus VR |
| 2021 | Company renamed Meta Platforms, signalling the metaverse vision |
| 2023 | Launches Threads; releases open Llama AI models |
| 2025 | Creates Meta Superintelligence Labs and recruits top AI researchers |
Zuckerberg has faced intense scrutiny over:
Meta's Reality Labs division spent tens of billions of dollars on virtual reality and the metaverse with limited commercial return. Since 2023, Zuckerberg has shifted focus to AI. In January 2026, Meta guided record capital spending of US$115–135 billion for the year to build AI data centres and models, and Zuckerberg described 2026 as a big year for delivering "personal superintelligence" — AI assistants built into Meta's apps and devices. He has said AI glasses, such as the Ray-Ban Meta line, are the clearest expression of that vision.
In 2015, Zuckerberg and his wife, paediatrician Priscilla Chan, launched the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, pledging to give away 99% of their Meta shares over their lifetimes, with a strong focus on biomedical science. They married in 2012 and have three daughters. Zuckerberg is also known for training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts.
On 4 February 2004, while a student at Harvard.
Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, Threads and the Reality Labs hardware division, including Quest headsets.
In 2021, Zuckerberg renamed the company to reflect a broader focus on the metaverse and future computing platforms.
Zuckerberg's term for advanced AI assistants that help individuals with their own goals, delivered through Meta's apps and AI glasses.
Mark Zuckerberg turned a college project into one of the world's most influential companies, reshaping how people communicate — for better and worse. His massive bet on AI will determine whether Meta can lead the next era of computing as decisively as it led social media.
