Rise to Success: Career Highlights of Mark Zuckerberg

From career breakthroughs to professional milestones, explore how Mark Zuckerberg made an impact.

Mark Zuckerberg is an American businessman and programmer best known as the co-founder, chairman, CEO, and controlling shareholder of Meta Platforms, formerly Facebook. He launched Facebook in 2004, which has become one of the world's largest social media platforms. Zuckerberg has been a major figure in the development of social media and the internet, and a significant (and sometimes controversial) influence on global communication and information sharing. He is also involved in various philanthropic efforts through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

Sections (7)

Full Timeline Early Life & Education Career & Achievements Success & Recognition Challenges & Struggles Controversies & Scandals Legacy & Impact

January 2004: Zuckerberg Begins Writing Code for Facebook

In January 2004, Mark Zuckerberg began writing code for what would become the social networking site Facebook.

February 4, 2004: Launch of 'Thefacebook'

On February 4, 2004, Mark Zuckerberg, in partnership with his roommates, launched "Thefacebook", originally located at thefacebook.com.

February 2004: Launch of i2hub

A month after Zuckerberg launched Facebook in February 2004, i2hub, a campus-only service created by Wayne Chang, was launched.

February 2004: Facebook Launch at Harvard

In February 2004, Mark Zuckerberg, along with his roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, launched Facebook at Harvard College.

August 2004: Launch of Wirehog

In August 2004, Mark Zuckerberg, Andrew McCollum, Adam D'Angelo, and Sean Parker launched Wirehog, a peer-to-peer file sharing service, as a competing service to i2hub.

2004: Zuckerberg Moves to Palo Alto and Meets Peter Thiel

In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard and moved to Palo Alto, California with his co-founders. During the summer of 2004, Peter Thiel invested in his company.

2007: Zuckerberg Named Top Innovator by MIT

In 2007, Mark Zuckerberg was recognized as one of the top 35 innovators in the world under the age of 35 by MIT Technology Review's TR35 list.

2007: Launch of Facebook Platform applications

In 2007, Wirehog became the precursor for the Facebook Platform applications.

2008: Zuckerberg Becomes Youngest Self-Made Billionaire

In 2008, at the age of 23, Mark Zuckerberg became the world's youngest self-made billionaire.

April 2009: Zuckerberg Seeks Advice from Peter Currie

In April 2009, Mark Zuckerberg sought advice from former Netscape CFO Peter Currie regarding financing strategies for Facebook.

2009: Zuckerberg Ranked on Vanity Fair 100 List

In 2009, Mark Zuckerberg ranked number 23 on the Vanity Fair 100 list.

July 21, 2010: Facebook Reaches 500 Million Users

On July 21, 2010, Mark Zuckerberg reported that Facebook had reached the 500-million-user milestone.

September 2010: Zuckerberg pledges $100 million to Newark Public Schools

In September 2010, Mark Zuckerberg pledged US$100 million to Newark Public Schools, with the support of Governor Chris Christie.

2010: Zuckerberg on Hacking Culture

In 2010, Steven Levy noted that Zuckerberg "clearly thinks of himself as a hacker" and Zuckerberg states that it's OK to "break things" to make them better. Facebook also started "hackathons" around this time.

2010: Zuckerberg Named Most Influential Person by Vanity Fair

In 2010, Vanity Fair magazine named Mark Zuckerberg number 1 on its list of the Top 100 "most influential people of the Information Age".

May 2012: Facebook Goes Public

In May 2012, Mark Zuckerberg took Facebook public, retaining majority shares in the company.

October 1, 2012: Zuckerberg Meets with Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow

On October 1, 2012, Mark Zuckerberg met with then-Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow to stimulate social media innovation and to boost Facebook's position in the Russian market.

December 2012: Zuckerberg donates 18 million shares to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation

In December 2012, Mark Zuckerberg donated 18 million shares to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, an organization that supports education among other grant-making areas.

February 2013: Zuckerberg hosts fundraising event for Chris Christie

In February 2013, Mark Zuckerberg hosted his first fundraising event for then-New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. His interest was in education reform, particularly Christie's work on teachers unions and charter schools.

April 11, 2013: Zuckerberg launches lobbying group FWD.us

On April 11, 2013, Mark Zuckerberg launched FWD.us, a 501(c)(4) lobbying group focused on immigration reform, improving education, and enabling technological advancements. However, it faced criticism for funding ads supporting oil and gas development initiatives.

2013: Zuckerberg Discusses Internet.org at TechCrunch Disrupt

At the 2013 TechCrunch Disrupt conference in September, Mark Zuckerberg discussed his work toward connecting the 5 billion people not yet connected to the Internet, related to the Internet.org project.

2013: Launch of Internet.org

In 2013, Mark Zuckerberg launched Internet.org, an initiative to provide Internet access to the five billion people worldwide without it.

March 2014: Zuckerberg Keynote at Mobile World Congress

In March 2014, Mark Zuckerberg was the keynote speaker at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, where he highlighted Facebook's focus on mobile technology.

October 23, 2014: Zuckerberg Participates in Q&A at Tsinghua University

On October 23, 2014, Mark Zuckerberg participated in a Q&A session at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, conversing in Mandarin Chinese.

December 8, 2014: Zuckerberg Hosts Lu Wei at Facebook HQ

On December 8, 2014, Mark Zuckerberg, along with other American technology figures, hosted visiting Chinese politician Lu Wei at Facebook's headquarters.

June 2016: Zuckerberg Named Top Business Visionary

In June 2016, Business Insider named Mark Zuckerberg one of the "Top 10 Business Visionaries Creating Value for the World".

2016: Zuckerberg Joins Breakthrough Starshot Project

In 2016, Mark Zuckerberg became a board member of the solar sail spacecraft development project Breakthrough Starshot, co-founding it with Yuri Milner and Stephen Hawking.

2016: CZI gives $600 million to create Chan Zuckerberg Biohub

In 2016, The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) donated $600 million to establish the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, a tax-exempt charity and collaborative research facility in San Francisco's Mission Bay area. The goal was to encourage collaboration between scientists at UCSF, UC Berkeley, and Stanford University. Intellectual property rights would be jointly held by Biohub and the researcher's institution, with options for open-source sharing available. CZ Biohub also requires investigators to publish manuscripts and data on preprints servers like bioRxiv.

May 25, 2017: Zuckerberg Receives Honorary Degree from Harvard

On May 25, 2017, Mark Zuckerberg received an honorary degree from Harvard University after giving a commencement speech at the 366th commencement day.

2017: Zuckerberg calls for action to stop global warming in Harvard commencement speech

In 2017, Mark Zuckerberg delivered a commencement speech at Harvard University, where he called for action to stop global warming.

January 2019: Zuckerberg Plans End-to-End Encryption for Social Media Platforms

In January 2019, Mark Zuckerberg announced plans to integrate an end-to-end encrypted system for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

August 14, 2020: Facebook Integrates Instagram and Messenger Chat Systems

On August 14, 2020, Facebook integrated the chat systems for Instagram and Messenger on both iOS and Android devices to encourage cross-communication between users.

2020: Zuckerberg funds state-level ballot initiative regarding property taxes

In 2020, Mark Zuckerberg funded a state-level ballot initiative aimed at modifying California's Proposition 13, which would require commercial and industrial properties to be taxed at market rate.

2025: Estimated Value of Zuckerberg's Pledge in 2025

In 2025, the equivalent value of Mark Zuckerberg and his wife's pledge to give away 99% of their wealth (estimated at $55.0 billion in 2016) would be $72,240,700,516.