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COVID-19 pushes Zuckerberg to third world’s richest

Several countries have felt the adverse effects of coronavirus pandemic with critical sectors worldwide affected by the impact.

But for Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, the reverse appears to be the case as the pandemic period has opened a new opportunity for a rise in his income.

Zuckerberg added more than $30bn to his wealth in two months earning him the title of the third richest in the world. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranking updated on May 21, Zuckerberg is now worth an estimated $87.8bn, placing him above billionaires such as Berkshire Hathaway, CEO Warren Buffet and fashion mogul, Bernard Arnault.

Most corporations experienced a dip in their income due to the drop in economic activities which has seen nearly 40 million US workers  laid off.  Facebook beat Wall Street expectations in revenue and daily active users, generating $17.74bn and attracting 1.73bn users in the first three months of 2020. The company also reported it had reached three billion monthly users across its family of apps which include Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. Facebook stock has jumped as much as eight, netting the company $44bn in market value.

In mid-March, Zuckerberg was worth $57.5bn and placed fifth on the list of the world’s richest but the lockdown increased his financial worth.

Zuckerbeg also recently stated that Facebbok would be giving out $10m to groups fighting racial injustice in the wake of George Floyds death.

Like a normal kid

Mark Zuckerberg was born on May 14, 1984 to a psychiatric and dentist parents, Karen and Edwards Zuckerberg. When thinking about Zuckerberg’s childhood, one would find it hard to imagine a little kid living a normal life with his three sisters in a small county in New York.

Zuckerberg was raised in a Reform Jewish household, and his forebears hailed from Germany, Austria and Poland.  Zuckerberg has always shown signs of extraordinary brilliance even from his high school days. He attended a public high school before transferring to a private school where he won prizes in mathematics, astronomy, physics, and classical studies. Contrary to notions that he probably didn’t have a social life, Zuckerberg was the captain of the school’s fencing team.

Extraordinary abilities

Zuckerberg attended the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth summer camp, an education programme for academically advanced children within the school age. Basically the programme isn’t for the average kid, but kids who demonstrates an intelligence that’s unparalleled by their age mates.  On his college application, Zuckerberg stated that he could read and write French, Hebrew, Latin, and ancient Greek.

At age 12, Zuckerberg created a messaging programme named Zucknet he implemented as an inter-office communication system for his father’s dental practice. Due to his early signs of success, his parents got him a computer programming tutor while he was still in high school, and they enrolled him in a prep school in New Hampshire. After graduating from prep school, Zuckerberg enrolled at Harvard University.

College years

The New Yorker noted that by the time Zuckerberg began classes at Harvard, he had already achieved a “reputation as a programming prodigy.” By his sophomore year, he had already built two programmes: CourseMatch and FaceMash. Both programmes became popular, but the university shut down the latter programme after it was deemed to be inappropriate.  Facemash  is a programme that allows students select the best-looking person from a choice of photos.  Zuckerberg was said to have created the programme with no monetary bargain in mind. He did it for fun.

Zuckerberg alongside his fellow Harvard peers Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes, Eduardo Saverin, and Andrew McCollum decided to build a social networking site that allowed Harvard students connect with each other and called it “The Facebook,” in June 2004.  Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard in his sophomore year to complete his project.  Zuckerberg went to receive an honourary degree from Harvard in 2017.

 Net worth    

Zuckerberg is worth $87.8bn making him the third richest in the world. Zuckerberg’s income comes mostly through his social networking app and investments alongside his acquisition of competing apps like Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Although Zuckerberg and his wife live a modest life and prefer to be known for their charity works, they still have an eye for the good life. Zuckerberg is widely known for his modest dress mode of shorts and a simple shirt with no fancy attached to it.

Sources: Wikipedia.com, pulselive.co, investopedia.com,justrichest.com

 

 

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