Claim: Mark Zuckerberg co-founded the social media platform Facebook.

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg -LRB- born May 14 , 1984 -RRB- is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur . He is a co-founder of Facebook , and currently operates as its chairman and chief executive officer . His net worth is estimated to be US$ 63.3 billion as of May 2017 , and he is ranked by Forbes as the fifth richest person in the world .   Zuckerberg launched Facebook from his Harvard University dormitory room on February 4 , 2004 . He was assisted by his college roommates and fellow Harvard students Eduardo Saverin , Andrew McCollum , Dustin Moskovitz , and Chris Hughes . The group then introduced Facebook to other college campuses . Facebook expanded rapidly , reaching one billion users by 2012 . Meanwhile , Zuckerberg was involved in various legal disputes brought by others in the group , who claimed a share of the company based upon their involvement during the development phase of Facebook .   In December 2012 , Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan announced that over the course of their lives they would give the majority of their wealth to `` advancing human potential and promoting equality '' in the spirit of The Giving Pledge . On December 1 , 2015 , they announced they would eventually give 99 percent of their Facebook shares -LRB- worth about US$ 45 billion at the time -RRB- to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative .   Since 2010 , Time magazine has named Zuckerberg among the 100 wealthiest and most influential people in the world as a part of its Person of the Year award . In December 2016 , Zuckerberg was ranked 10th on Forbes list of The World 's Most Powerful People . According to Forbes Magazine , Zuckerberg has a net worth of US$ 63.3 billion as of May 2017 .