After celebrating Facebook’s 20th anniversary earlier this year, the company’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg reached a personal milestone and celebrated his 40th birthday on May 14. The man who changed the face of social networking continues to push the boundaries in the tech sector and still has many more tricks up his sleeve. We look at Mark Zuckerberg’s lifestyle, company goals, and what has changed now that 40 is upon him.
Much to his own as well as netizens’ surprise, the billionaire recently went viral after a digitally altered picture of him sporting a bearded look began doing the rounds on social media. The photo was a screengrab taken from one of Zuckerberg’s own social media posts. The video showcased Zuckerberg dressed in a plain blue T-shirt sporting a sparkly silver chain, which many deemed an unlikely choice for the billionaire. The morphed image garnered some hilarious reactions online, with an X user writing, “wait, when did Mark Zuckerberg become cool???”
With the internet thirsting over his bearded look, Zuckerberg expressed his amusement over the viral posts, writing, “Okay who did this?”
While the digitally enhanced transformation may have been fake, there’s no denying that Mark Zuckerberg no longer represents the boring Silicon Valley tech-bro. In the past few months, there has been a visible change in his fashion choices and his social media presence. Whether it’s a calculated move or simply a makeover, Mark Zuckerberg at 40 is a changed man from The Social Network image that Hollywood once painted of him. Ahead of his birthday, let’s take a look at the Meta founder‘s updated persona as of 2024.
Mark Zuckerberg’s 40th birthday celebration
Sharing a glimpse of his 40th birthday celebration on Instagram, the Meta CEO revealed how his wife Priscilla Chan threw him a special bash. The post featured photos that captured replicas of meaningful places in his life including his childhood bedroom, his college dorm room with a special appearance by Bill Gates, the old Facebook office, his first apartment, and also his favourite pizza shop. His birthday outfit included a black t-shirt featuring a Latin phrase and a shiny gold chain.
Mark Zuckerberg at 40: What is the Meta CEO up to in 2024?
Mark Zuckerberg in his fashion era
Almost a decade ago, Zuckerberg popularised the “work uniform” philosophy, revealing how he saves time by maintaining a daily routine comprising simple outfits like jeans, sneakers, and a grey T-shirt. However, in recent times, the Meta CEO has been showing a different side of himself. While adding accessories such as a silver chain to his plain t-shirts may seem like a small move, it’s still a fashion statement coming from the tech CEO, particularly given the simplicity for which he is known. And that’s not all. At recent public appearances from UFC matches to trips in South Korea and Japan, Zuckerberg sported a stylised wardrobe that caught the attention of all looking his way.
Who would have thought Mark Zuckerberg would sit at a McDonald’s in Japan wearing a shearling jacket worth reportedly USD 1,000? Definitely not us. The photo, which showed Zuckerberg sporting the stylish brown coat along with his Meta smart glasses, was quite the declaration that he was now in his fashion era.
Continuing with his wardrobe experiments and bidding adieu to his almost-robotic choices from the past, Zuckerberg also served a fashion frenzy at the pre-wedding festivities of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s son, Anant Ambani. From floral prints to an embroidered Alexander McQueen suit, the Meta owner seemed to truly showcase a new persona altogether.
Add to this his Sunderbans Tigress print shirt by designer Rahul Mishra, which left even his fellow billionaire Bill Gates completely stunned. Zuckerberg thoroughly embraced the Indian aesthetic for the festivities, which were held in India, and on one occasion even donned an ethnic sherwani in an ivory shade which perfectly complemented the festive setting.
Changed social media game
A quick scroll down Mark Zuckerberg’s Instagram profile also shows how the billionaire has made some significant changes to how he interacts on social media. A much more confident Zuckerberg dropped shirtless photos last year, displaying his ripped physique after a training session alongside MMA fighters Israel Adesanya and Alex Volkanvski. The post received over 2 million likes and was a timely update after Tesla CEO Elon Musk challenged him to a “cage match.”
While keeping up with his task of promoting Meta’s innovations on social media, the billionaire also seems to be showcasing a funnier and more humane side of himself. In one of the posts, he tested an artificial intelligence (AI) model called V-JEPA by sharing an old video of himself playing the guitar and singing sweetly to his daughter Maxima. On another occasion, he turned a sloth selfie he clicked at the zoo into a hilarious rap album cover.
And then, there is his famous post-surgery workout video, in which he was seen pulling off a strenuous leg press routine at the gym. The video, which was taken after he underwent knee surgery last year, was his first post since the event, and showcased his incredible strength. It also earned an impressive comment from UFC fighter Mike Davis who wrote, “Wait, Why are you stronger than me!?”
Why is Mark Zuckerberg into cattle ranching?
Despite Zuckerberg’s global popularity as a tech billionaire, his daughters Maxima, August, and Aurelia believe that his job profile is much simpler. The billionaire revealed in an interview that his kids believed he was a rancher, given how he has been raising cattle at the Ko’olau Ranch on Kauai, Hawaii. In January this year, Mark left everyone surprised with his update about raising cattle on a ranch to create “the highest quality beef in the world.” Detailing the same, he also wrote in an Instagram post, “The cattle are wagyu and angus, and they’ll grow up eating macadamia meal and drinking beer that we grow and produce here on the ranch.”
Of course, this raised several discussions online regarding the environmental implications and the role of the meat industry in it. Zuckerberg did not respond to these concerns, and recently also introduced a new dairy cow on his Instagram. Revealing the cow’s name to be Brownie, Zuckerberg joked that his kids had initially named her Milkmaker, which would have been “too on the nose.”
A superyacht gift
Amid the cattle ranching and MMA-style workouts, Mark’s taste for luxury items has also made the news. Zuckerberg did not hesitate to splurge on a birthday present for himself, and in the ultimate show of self care, purchased a superyacht reportedly worth USD 300 million. According to Fox News, the 287-foot yacht is called Launchpad and is docked at Port Everglades in Florida. Despite the unique features of this luxury superyacht, the news of this mega purchase by the Meta CEO has drawn more flack instead of awe. Given his advocacy for climate issues in the past, his decision to invest in a superyacht has been called out, not just by netizens, but also by Elon Musk who took a swipe at Zuckerberg’s extravagant purchase with a comment on X with, “Looks cool tbh. My work doesn’t allow time for a yacht, even if I did have one.”
The superyacht appears to be a new addition to Zuckerberg’s other luxury investments, which also include the extravagant Gulfstream G650 private jet.
Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth and ranking on the billionaires list
As of May 2024 and as per Forbes, Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth stands at USD 177 billion. He is currently the fourth richest man in the world, behind Elon Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos who take the second and third positions respectively. The billionaire’s fortune has swung up and down through the years, and he briefly surpassed Musk by taking the third spot last month after a drop in Tesla’s stocks. However, with the volatility of the market, Musk soon regained his spot, thus continuing the duo’s competitive beef and their goals of outdoing one another.
Zuckerberg has come a long way since he first started Facebook at the age of 19 out of his dorm room. He dropped out of Harvard in 2005 after his sophomore year to focus on pursuing the business full-time. Impressively, the company received its Series A round of funding worth USD 12.7 million within a year when Mark was just 20. Seven years later, Zuckerberg went public with Facebook’s initial public offering (IPO) and raised USD 16 billion, after which which there was no looking back for the company’s massive growth.
On a personal level, nearly a day after Facebook’s historic IPO was presented, Zuckerberg tied the knot with his longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan. The couple had met each other at a college party and had remained steady over the following years, eventually tying the knot in the backyard of their home in Palo Alto, California.
The price of Metaverse goals
Moving beyond the success of Facebook and also the other social platforms under the company, which include WhatsApp and Instagram, Zuckerberg is now in the race for AI domination. With each major tech company pushing the boundaries for the same, Meta is not too far behind. The billionaire has made it clear that he has big goals to enhance Meta’s work in the AI space, and recently surprised investors by revealing his plans for spending USD 35 billion and USD 40 billion this year on building AI systems. Zuckerberg’s big vision for Metaverse also includes investing a significant amount of money into creating virtual reality hardware and software.
The billionaire himself has been testing out some of Meta’s new products. These include Ray-Ban smart glasses which recently received an AI upgrade, allowing them to perform translations of text and also identify animals and monuments. Amid these smart innovations, Zuckerberg confirmed that the company’s goal for the near future is to “build things that are at the state of the art, and eventually the leading models in the industry.”
(Main and featured images: Mark Zuckerberg/Instagram)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
– At what age did Mark Zuckerberg start Facebook?
Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook at the age of 19 in 2004 and is currently the CEO of Meta, which was originally founded as Facebook.
– At what age did Zuckerberg become a billionaire?
In 2008, at age 23, Mark Zuckerberg became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire. He later took Facebook public in May 2012 with majority shares.
– Who is the CEO of Meta?
Mark Zuckerberg is currently the founder, chairman and CEO of Meta, it was originally founded as Facebook in 2004.
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Surabhi Redkar
Senior Digital Writer, People, Entertainment and Fashion
Surabhi Redkar is a pop culture enthusiast with a keen interest in celebrity fashion and beauty trends. A post graduate in multimedia journalism from Birmingham City University, she has worked with several Indian and international media organisations such as Pinkvilla and DesiBlitz covering topics spanning fashion, beauty, and travel. When not binge-watching Netflix series and movies, she's exploring quiet bookstores and buying new coffee equipment. Scrolling through social media for celebrity gossip and new travel destinations is her favourite way to spend the weekend.
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