World’s youngest self-made billionaire, all-time resident of Forbes’ top 10 richest people list - well, isn’t he living his best life? But what exactly was his way up to the top was like?

The story of his success is an everlasting classic and an example for all the geek kids out there - be passionate, love what you do and don’t stop believing. Cinderella-like story of a person who became famous as if by chance, though we all know that behind that seemingly easy rise there were trials, hard work and many sleepless nights.

Mark discovered his interest in computers and programming while studying in middle-school, and since then he never stopped. The idea of the worldwide famous social network Facebook came to his mind when he studied in college and was once used for Harvard students only, but within a very short period of time became one of the world’s most famous platforms for meeting new people and keeping in touch with old friends. In 2004 alone since the creation of Facebook, the platform gained more than 1 million users and the amount kept on growing with astronomical speed.

The quickly growing business demanded more investments, and they were quick to follow - starting from the Accel investment of 12.7 million, Facebook soon attracted a lot of companies who were willing to invest in the fast-growing promising platform, never seen before.

We may not have the power to create the world we want immediately, but we can all start working on the long term today.

However, this novelty was not a long-lasting one, since in 2006 and up to 2011 Mark Zuckerberg had an ongoing dispute with his former colleagues and friends on the plagiarism of the Facebook concept. That issue didn’t stop Mark Zuckerberg - the net worth of his company and income continued to grow as fast as ever. Such expansion demanded acquisitions, and they shortly followed:

  • In 2009 Facebook started to use FriendFeed, real-time newsfeed update

  • In 2012, Instagram became part of Facebook groups and slowly but steadily took over as one of the favourite networks for sharing media content

  • In 2014, popular messenger WhatsApp was bought by Facebook as well

Looks impressive, doesn’t it?

The overall success of the company inevitably led to the filing of the IPO in 2014. Initial stock price made the company one of the largest by capitalisation, surpassing huge companies such as Amazon, McDonald's, Disney, and Kraft Foods.

However, the history of Facebook success took an unexpected turn not so long ago. The reputation of the company had huge damage not only from all the lawsuits filed on plagiarism and stocks manipulation (yes, that was the case) but also from recent events linked to Facebook exposing personal data of users and interfering in huge political events with the help of internal Facebook advertising algorithms.

Mark Zuckerberg publicly went under the questioning in court, answering questions of the trial jury regarding the vulnerability of Facebook security system and security protocols of data storage. The lawsuit resulted in a sharp fall of Facebook stocks price, making investors sell their shares urgently.

But we guess Mark Zuckerberg is an extremely lucky guy (and amazingly talented businessman), because ever since that unfortunate for all the Facebook Inc. time stock prices started rising steadily, aiming for the peak numbers reached in the Golden Age of Facebook Inc.

Overall, Mark Zuckerberg shows us that whatever your hobby is, never let it slide, make the thing you love your job and you won’t need to work a single day.

We hope that Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg himself would still make this financial race of companies as tense as ever for many years, letting us, investors and trading lovers, take part in making a history of one of the greatest companies ever.

And here’s the little facts section for your entertainment:

  • In 2016 Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, donated 3 billion USD to scientific research

  • Are you a gaming fan? Ever heard of Oculus Rift? It’s the part of Facebook Inc. as well!

  • Zuckerberg’s house has an AI butler who was voiced by Morgan Freeman himself

  • Ever wondered why Facebook is blue? Mark Zuckerberg has red-green colour blindness

  • You can’t block him on Facebook, even if you try!