Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg Turns 30

In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook in his dorm room, not knowing that 10 years later he would be a billionaire with a billion people suing the social network. Oh, he's also turning 30.

In 2007, he was routinely dismissed as a real threat to the tech establishment, according to Forbes. In fact, the business magazine wrote: 

Rumors swirling around Silicon Valley suggest Zuckerberg’s widely popular online social networking site Facebook could fetch more than $10 billion. That seems too high to us. The company has only $150 million or thereabouts in annual revenues. Sure it’s growing fast. But for the company to be worth $4.3 billion–making Zuckerberg’s estimated 30% stake worth the $1.3 billion price of admission for this year’s Forbes 400–Facebook would need to sell for nearly 30 times sales.

 Forbes was wrong and Facebook did very well indeed. While there's no guarantee Facebook will continue to grow or be profitable -- after only 10 years, Zuckerberg took something from nothing to a $153 billion market cap. In terms others will understand: Microsoft's Bill Gates hadn't launched Microsoft Windows at 30; Steve Jobs was kicked out of Apple at 30; and at 30, Amazon's Jeff Bezos was just starting up the e-commerce site.

So, Zuckerberg, who turned 30 on May 14, maybe needs to stop wearing the black hoodie and jeans he wore at age 23. He's now an accomplished young man.
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