Who owns Facebook?

An excellent film has been made about the creation and development of the most popular social network, Facebook, through which one can understand who the first investors of the rapidly developing social network were. The film "The Social Network", released in 2010, colorfully, albeit with artistic license, showed the story of Mark Zuckerberg and his journey from a Harvard dorm room to the head of a giant corporation. But who owns Facebook today? Who owns the company's shares and how are the stakes distributed among the founders and investors? In this article, we will thoroughly analyze the history of Facebook's creation, tell about its founder Mark Zuckerberg, as well as the key shareholders and owners of the company. The material will be useful both for ordinary social network users and entrepreneurs interested in the history of large IT corporations.

Who Created Facebook: The History of its Founding

The history of Facebook began in 2004 in a Harvard University dorm room. The founder of Facebook is Mark Zuckerberg, then a 19-year-old student passionate about programming. His fellow students also participated in the platform's creation: Eduardo Saverin (financier), Dustin Moskovitz (programmer), Chris Hughes (PR specialist), and Andrew McCollum (designer).

The idea of creating Facebook did not come out of nowhere. Before this, Zuckerberg created several student projects: CourseMatch (helped students choose courses) and Facemash (a site for comparing photos of female students, which caused a scandal). It was Facemash that showed Zuckerberg how interested people are in each other's online presence. On February 4, 2004, Mark Zuckerberg launched thefacebook.com. In just 24 hours, the site registered 1200 Harvard students. A month later, half of the university's students were connected to the network. By the end of 2004, the number of Facebook users exceeded 1 million.

Facebook's success attracted investors. The first major investor was Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal, who invested $500,000 in exchange for a stake in the company. It was a risky but brilliant move that later brought Thiel billions.

The Film "The Social Network": Truth and Fiction

David Fincher's film "The Social Network", released in 2010, received 3 "Oscars" and is still considered one of the best films about startups. It colorfully depicts the conflict between Zuckerberg and the Winklevoss brothers, who accused him of stealing the idea, as well as the fallout with Eduardo Saverin. However, as the real participants in the events claim, the film dramatizes many moments for the sake of entertainment. Nevertheless, it brilliantly conveys the atmosphere of adventurism and ruthlessness of the early Web 2.0 era.

Who Owns Facebook Now: Share Capital Structure

As of 2020, its founder Mark Zuckerberg is the sole owner and CEO. However, calling him the sole owner, it's important to understand the nuance: Facebook is a public company, its shares are traded on NASDAQ. Zuckerberg is the majority shareholder, but not the only one.

A key feature of Facebook's management: Mark Zuckerberg controls the company not only through his shares but also through a dual-class voting system and a special "trust" (fiduciary management), which allows him to maintain a decisive vote even if his stake decreases. In fact, he is the company's lifelong leader. Mark Zuckerberg's stake in 2020 was approximately 28.2% of Class B shares (with 10 votes per share). This allowed him to control over 50% of the votes at shareholder meetings and make key decisions unilaterally.

Key Facebook Shareholders

Dustin Moskovitz — one of the first co-founders and lead programmer in the early stage. He was Zuckerberg's roommate at Harvard. It's worth mentioning programmer Dustin Moskovitz, who held 7.6% of shares as of the 2020 valuation. Although he later sold some shares, his fortune is still estimated in tens of billions of dollars. Moskovitz is also known for his philanthropy: he founded the Good Ventures foundation and signed "The Giving Pledge," committing to donate the majority of his wealth to charity.

Eduardo Saverin — Facebook's first CFO. His stake, after a series of lawsuits (the story shown in the film), was significantly diluted, but still brought him billions. He owns less than 5% of the company.

Sean Parker — Facebook's president in the early stage. He was not a founder but played a key role in the company's professional development by introducing Zuckerberg to Peter Thiel. His stake is estimated to be around 4%. Parker is also known as the founder of Napster.

Institutional Investors

Accel Partners holds the largest number of shares among external companies. In 2005, the venture fund Accel Partners invested $12.7 million in Facebook. At the time, this was a record deal. Accel Partners' stake in Facebook was approximately 11.4% of shares. As the company grew, the value of this stake increased to tens of billions of dollars.

The Russian company Mail.ru Group (now VK) also entered Facebook's history as one of its prominent investors. Among other companies that held a stake in Facebook was the Russian company Mail.ru Group, which owned (through its investment funds (DST Global)) a stake in Facebook. At its peak, the stake was 5.5%. Although DST Global, founded by Yuri Milner, sold most of its shares during and after the IPO, this deal became a symbol of Russian capital entering global technologies.