Mark Zuckerberg is one of the most famous company founders in American history, but his story is more than just that of a successful businessman.  Zuckerberg was also very young when he started Facebook.  Amazingly, Zuckerberg was just 19 years old when his idea came to life, which has become one of the largest companies in the world.  In 2004, Zuckerberg, along with Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, who were also students, made Facebook a reality.  The idea for Facebook came in 2003, when Zuckerberg created a short lived website called Facemash.  Facemash ultimately fizzled out quickly, but its successor, known as The Facebook is a different story.  The site allowed college students (specifically at Harvard) to create public profiles with pictures and personal information, allowing for online connections between students.

The site quickly took off.  Soon, students from Yale and Stanford joined, and Facebook spread from there, initially to only students.  In June of 2004, there were more than 250,000 profiles on The Facebook.  Off of this foundation, Zuckerberg grew his company and his website exponentially.  From 2004 to 2006, Zuckerberg’s website, now known simply as Facebook, gained features such as the Wall and the ability to tag people in photos.  Additionally, in 2006, Facebook moved beyond being a service exclusively for students, and added the ability for anyone 13 or older to join.  Facebook went public in 2012, when Zuckerberg was just 28, and soon had a market value of $102.4 billion.  After it’s Facebook’s first day on the market, Zuckerberg was worth over $19 billion.  Today Zuckerberg is 37, and is the 5th richest person in the world.