Our Haute 100 list details the accomplishments of the most influential people in each of our markets—Miami, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. These people continue to make moves, so rather than waiting for the next Haute 100 issue to come out, we thought we’d provide you with regular updates on those Haute 100 members who are making headlines. Check back daily for more info on the most powerful people in your city. Today, Mark Zuckerberg faces the highs and lows of being one of the youngest self-made billionaires ever.
Mark Zuckerberg
Category: Billionaires
Company: Facebook
Industry: Technology
What Made Him Haute: Zuckerberg is the genius who invented Facebook in a Harvard dorm room in 2004 and became the youngest Forbes billionaire in 2008 after Microsoft bought a stake, valuing it at $15 billion.
What Makes Him Haute Now: After a short fallout in 2009, Zuckerberg has returned to Forbes’ 2010 billionaires list with a $4 billion net worth. Recently, he announced that Facebook has reached 500 million users, and he has faith that it will reach the billion mark within the next few years.
However, every good thing has its lows. Over the past few months, media and tech gurus alike have chastised Zuckerberg for failing to keep the social network’s personal privacy options secure. (In his defense, this had occurred while the company was in the middle of shifting the site’s settings.) And as of this week, someone by the name of Paul Ceglia is now claiming to have created the company. That being said, Facebook’s assets are now being frozen until the case is dealt with. We have all the faith in the (social networking) world that Zuckerberg will plow out of this firewall with victory.
