Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO and founder of social media giant Facebook, is celebrating his 32nd birthday today (May 14, 2016). He’s amassed a fortune, inspired one of every seven people on the planet to use his product and changed how the world communicates. On his birthday, we bring you some of the interesting and lesser known facts that you shouldn’t miss about Mark Zuckerberg. Check them out!
1. Salary:
Similar to Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg receives a one-dollar annual salary as CEO of Facebook. And is still worth $34.8 billion!
2. Colour blind:
Ever wondered why Facebook has that all-blue colour scheme? It’s because Zuckerberg suffers from red/green colour blindness, which means the colour he can most easily see is blue. Zuckerberg reportedly once said, “Blue is the richest colour for me. I can see all of blue.”
3. The Grey T-shirt:
He wears the same gray Facebook T-shirt almost every day because he’s so busy and it saves him time in the morning.
4. Doesn’t own a TV
He surely knew how to keep away from the “Idiot Box”. According to a report in Business Insider, until 2012, Zuckerberg doesn’t own a Television.
5. He’s an Atheist
Born to Jewish parents, Zuckerberg considers himself as an atheist.
6. His car
Zuckerberg drives a black Acura TSX. He has been reported as saying “it’s safe, comfortable, and not ostentatious.”
7. Instant Message App for his Family:
Mark Zuckerberg began programming at a young age. He once built a program called ZuckNet, just for his family to send messages to each other through pinging. He was only 12 when he created this messaging program that his father also used in his dental office. It was, essentially, an early version of AOL’s Instant Messenger.
8. He’s a Polyglot:
Zuckerberg’s cultural versatility is impressive! He can read and write French, Hebrew, Latin, Greek, and Mandarin.
9. How Mark met his Wife
On May 19, 2012, Mark Zuckerberg married his longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan. The two reportedly met at a party while waiting in line for washroom. Incidentally, Chan was also among the first few people to join Facebook, on February 5, 2004 (the day after it was launched).
Zuckerberg’s marriage to Priscilla Chan was quite the surprise for friends and family – guests were told they were being invited over to celebrate Chan’s medical school graduation, but in reality, they ended up attending the pair’s wedding.
10. Chinese language
Zuckerberg learnt Chinese in the year 2010 just to communicate with his girlfriend Priscilla Chan’s family members.
11. Wedding Ring
Zuckerberg was the one who designed his wife Priscilla Chan’s wedding ring, which is a ruby flanked on either side by diamonds. It approximately cost him $25,000.
12. Prodigy
Mark’s parents hired a computer tutor to work with the young Zuckerberg, but the tutor admitted that it quickly became difficult to stay ahead of his pupil, referring to him as a “prodigy.”
13. Dog Lover
Zuckerberg is a dog lover and owns a Hungarian sheepdog named Beast, who has a Facebook page with 2 million fans!
14. Twitter Account
He has amassed 220,000 Twitter followers despite the fact that he’s only tweeted 19 times in four years, and not once in 15 months.
15. You can’t block Zuckerberg in FB
You can’t block Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook. If you want to give it a try, go to http://www.facebook.com/zuck and see what happens.
16. He once wore a tie every day for a whole year
Each year, the Facebook billionaire sets himself a new challenge. One of his annual challenges that may surprise you is – Zuckerberg wore a tie for the entire year in 2009 to show how serious and important the year was, following the recession that began in 2008. That’s likely a surprise to anyone who knows that he normally wears a hoodie, jeans, and sneakers — even when others think he shouldn’t.
17. 50 patents
Mark Zuckerberg holds about 50 patents to his name. The first was issued in November 2004 for the technology behind the Synapse Media Player.
18. ‘Worst dressed’ Man
In 2011, Zuckerberg topped the GQ’s worst-dressed men in Silicon Valley list. Zuckerberg got the top honour for ill-fitting hoodies, jeans, t-shirts and Adidas sandals. GQ wrote, “Oblivious to the fact that jeans and ties come in skinny sizes — or that suits exist — the father of Facebook (and we do mean father) loves to recycle the fresh-from-Stats-class look.”
19. Youngest Billionaire
Zuckerberg became the youngest billionaire in the world at the age of 23 in the year 2008, according to a Forbes estimate. He was ranked 785 on the World’s Billionaires list.
Stay tuned with us for more interesting stories.