Facebook founder may be youngest self-made billionaire

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of social networking site Facebook, may be world’s youngest self-made billionaire according to Forbes in its recent list of billionaires. Forbes estimates Zuckerberg’s net worth at $1.5 billion which puts him at #785 on the list.

Left school for Silicon Valley later in 2004; scored initial $500,000 investment from PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel. Venture firms soon swooned, among them Accel Partners and Greylock Partners.

Today Facebook boasts 66 million active users. Estimated annual sales: $150 million. Expanding beyond being a college-only message system and photo album; now courting users to 55,000 different high school, business and city networks. Microsoft bought 1.6% stake for $240 million last October; deal led many to suggest the company is worth $15 billion. {source}

Of course that $1.5 billion estimate was based on the Microsoft’s 1.6% buyout, but until Facebook goes public or gets bought, we’ll never really know if this geeky boy-genius will become the 21st century posterchild for Silicon Valley.

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