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Tag: Mark Zuckerberg

  • Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, 8 others acknowledged as world richest as of May 1

    Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, 8 others acknowledged as world richest as of May 1

    CEO of LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods company, has maintained his position as the world’s richest person as of May 1, 2024, solidifying his status atop Forbes’ real-time billionaires list since February 2024, followed closely by Elon Musk, the owner and founder of Tesla.

    In April 2024, Jeff Bezos, the Founder of Amazon, briefly claimed the second spot from Musk, but Musk swiftly regained his position after a 15 percent surge in Tesla’s stock on April 29, 2024, boosting his net worth by $14.5 billion, according to Forbes.

    Musk’s recent visit to China to explore developments in electric vehicles has narrowed the gap between him and Bernard Arnault, whose fortune stands at $209.4 billion, approximately $10 billion more than Musk’s.

    Although Arnault’s LVMH company experienced a stock decline in the past month, resulting in a $17 billion decrease in his fortune, Jeff Bezos fell to third place with a net worth of $193.3 billion, while Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta recorded a net worth of $151.2 billion for the period.

    Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who held the title of the world’s richest person for nearly three decades, now holds the ninth spot with a worth of $128 billion, down from seventh place a month prior.

    As of May 1, 2024, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers of France holds the title of the world’s wealthiest woman, with an estimated worth of $95.4 billion, ranking as the 15th richest person globally.

    Her fortune stems from her ownership stake in the cosmetics giant L’Oreal, inherited from her late mother, whose father, Eugène Schueller, founded L’Oreal.

    See the full list below as compiled by Forbes

    1. Bernard Arnault
    Net worth: $209.4 billion
    Source: LVMH/ luxury goods Age: 75
    Residence: Paris
    Citizenship: France

    2. Elon Musk
    Net worth: $199.6 billion
    Source: Tesla, SpaceX, X (Twitter) Age: 52
    Residence: Austin, Texas
    Citizenship: U.S.

    3. Jeff Bezos
    Net worth: $193.3 billion
    Source: Amazon Age: 60
    Residence: Miami, Florida
    Citizenship: U.S.

    4. Mark Zuckerberg
    Net worth: $151.2 billion
    Source: Meta (Facebook)
    Age: 39 Residence: Palo Alto, California
    Citizenship: U.S.

    5. Larry Ellison
    Net worth: $142.8 billion
    Source: Oracle
    Age: 79 Residence: Woodside, California
    Citizenship: U.S.

    6. Larry Page
    Net worth: $135.4 billion
    Source: Google Age: 51
    Residence: Palo Alto, California
    Citizenship: U.S.

    7. Warren Buffett
    Net worth: $131 billion
    Source: Berkshire Hathaway
    Age: 93 Residence: Omaha, Nebraska
    Citizenship: U.S.

    8. Sergey Brin
    Net worth: $129.9 billion
    Source: Google
    Age: 50
    Residence: Los Altos, California
    Citizenship: U.S.

    9. Bill Gates
    Net worth: $127 billion
    Source: Microsoft, investments
    Age: 68 Residence: Medina, Washington
    Citizenship: U.S.

    10. Steve Ballmer
    Net worth: $117.1 billion
    Source: Microsoft, Clippers, investments
    Age: 68
    Residence: Hunts Point, Washington
    Citizenship: U.S.

  • Meta CEO Zuckerberg apologizes to parents at US Senate social media hearing

    Meta CEO Zuckerberg apologizes to parents at US Senate social media hearing

    Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday apologized to families at a U.S. Senate hearing about the impact that social media has on children.

    Under prodding from Republican Senator Josh Hawley, Zuckerberg stood up and addressed families who held up pictures of their children who they said had been harmed by social media.

    As the hearing kicked off, the committee played a video in which children spoke about being bullied on social media platforms. 

    Senators recounted stories of young people taking their own lives after being extorted for money after sharing photos with sexual predators.

    “Would you like now to apologize to the victims who have been harmed by your product?” Hawley asked, noting the hearing was being broadcast on live television.

    Zuckerberg stood up, turned around, and addressed the families. “I’m sorry for everything you have all been through. No one should go through the things that your families have suffered and this is why we invest so much and we are going to continue doing industry-wide efforts to make sure no one has to go through the things your families have had to suffer,” he said.

    Hawley aggressively criticized Zuckerberg during a contentious exchange. “Your product is killing people,” Hawley told Zuckerberg, whose firm owns social media platforms Facebook and Instagram.

  • Facebook creator has “blood on his hands” – Senator

    Facebook creator has “blood on his hands” – Senator

    Every CEO in the IT sector is publishing a written statement about their organisation. Mark Zuckerberg has just started speaking.

    Let’s remember when Senator Lindsey Graham said that social media companies are harming people’s lives and putting democracy in danger.

    Graham talks about a young man who was threatened on Instagram and then killed himself.

    He then talks to Mark Zuckerberg, who owns Instagram through his company Meta.

    Message:Zuckerberg, you and the companies before us – I know you may not realize it, but you are responsible for causing harm. Your product is causing harm and even death, according to Lindsey Graham, a Republican Senator.

    Dear Zuckerberg, you and the companies before us- I know you didn’t mean for it to happen, but you are responsible for harm. Your product is causing harm and death to people.
    Lindsey Graham is a senator for the Republican party.

    Lots of people in the crowd are shouting and clapping.

  • Elon Musk announces fight with Zuckerberg to go live on X

    Elon Musk announces fight with Zuckerberg to go live on X

    In a social media post, Elon Musk has made claimes that the cage match he had in mind with Meta (META.O) CEO Mark Zuckerberg would be broadcast live on social media network X, formerly known as Twitter.

    Since June, the owners of social media have been encouraging a mixed martial arts cage fight in Las Vegas.

    “Zuck v Musk fight will be live-streamed on X. All proceeds will go to charity for veterans,” Musk said in a post on X early on Sunday morning, without giving any further details.

    Earlier on Sunday, Musk had said on X that he was “lifting weights throughout the day, preparing for the fight”, adding that he did not have time to work out so brings the weights to work.

    When a user on X asked Musk the point of the fight, Musk responded by saying “It’s a civilized form of war. Men love war”.

    Meta did not respond to a Reuters request for comment regarding Musk’s post.

    The controversy began when Musk stated in a post on June 20 that he was willing to engage in a cage match with Zuckerberg, who is skilled in jiujitsu.

    The following day, Zuckerberg, 39, who has shared pictures of his victorious matches on his company’s Instagram platform, asked Musk, 51, to specify the location for the proposed showdown. In response, Musk suggested “Vegas Octagon,” referring to a venue known for hosting mixed martial arts (MMA) championship bouts.

    Subsequently, Musk expressed his intention to start training if the cage fight were to materialize.

  • Zuckerberg vs Musk: The ultimate tech ‘fight’ is brewing as Facebook and Twitter CEOs train with MMA stars

    Zuckerberg vs Musk: The ultimate tech ‘fight’ is brewing as Facebook and Twitter CEOs train with MMA stars

    It’s the battle of the billionaires that no one saw coming. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Elon Musk are reportedly gearing up for a potential fight that could settle their long-standing rivalry once and for all.

    Zuckerberg has made a surprising move in his preparations by hiring professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighters to train him for the possible showdown.

    UFC Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and Alex Volkanovski were spotted arriving at Zuckerberg‘s residence in Northern California right after the UFC 290 showcase in Las Vegas.

    Social media users were stunned by the photos that emerged online, showing Zuckerberg’s transformation from a nerdy tech mogul to a ripped and athletic fighter.

    The photos captured the trio posing together while showing evidence of the intense training regimen.

    Photo credit: Israel Adesanya [@stylebender]
    Photo credit: Israel Adesanya [@stylebender]
    Photo credit: Israel Adesanya [@stylebender]

    Meanwhile, Elon Musk was seen training alongside accomplished Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt holder Lex Fridman, who claimed that Musk was eagerly anticipating the possibility of a clash with his rival, Mark Zuckerberg.

    Photo credit: Lex Fridman [@lexfridman]
    Photo credit: Lex Fridman [@lexfridman]

    As their rivalry continues to captivate the public’s imagination, their sudden interest in combat sports has added fuel to the fire. With each CEO proclaiming their elite team of fighters and honing their physical abilities, it remains to be seen whether this extraordinary showdown will come to fruition.

    What do you think? Who would win in a fight between Zuckerberg and Musk?

  • Nigeria’s MMA fighter, Israel Adesanya, trains Zuckerberg for cage match with Musk

    Nigeria’s MMA fighter, Israel Adesanya, trains Zuckerberg for cage match with Musk

    Well-known mixed martial arts (MMA) champion Israel Adesanya, who was born in Nigeria, recently posted images on Twitter showing him working out American tech millionaire Mark Zuckerberg.

    This development took place amid rumors of a probable duel between Elon Musk, the rival businessman who currently runs Twitter and is originally from South Africa, and Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, the organization that owns Facebook and Instagram.

    “We both have South Africans to deal with,” Adesanya quipped on Thursday, along with four photos of the duo training together.

    The 33-year-old fighter, who was born in New Zealand but relocated there as a child, will compete in an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight match against South African Dricus du Plessis in September.

    Adesanya reportedly arrived at Mr. Zuckerberg’s house in northern California on Saturday to start their training sessions, according to news reports.

    Last month, Mr. Musk, 52, and Mr. Zuckerberg, 39, agreed to compete in a cage match on social media.

    Although a specific date has not yet been set for the fight, the two have already started another argument over Meta’s recent launch of a Twitter substitute.

    The Threads app has been downloaded by more than 70 million people so far.

  • 100m users sign up to Threads in less than a week

    100m users sign up to Threads in less than a week

    Threads, the social media app developed by Meta, the parent company of Instagram, has achieved a remarkable milestone by attracting over 100 million users in less than five days. This achievement surpasses the previous record set by Open AI’s ChatGPT app.

    The platform was launched globally on Apple and Android app stores across 100 countries, including the United Kingdom, last Wednesday. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, expressed his astonishment at the rapid pace at which the milestone was reached.

    However, Threads has faced some obstacles along the way. Notably, the app is currently unavailable in mainland Europe due to uncertainties surrounding its compliance with European Union data privacy legislation.

    How to sign up to Twitter’s rival app, Threads

    It is evident that Threads has garnered significant attention and interest from users, demonstrating its potential to rival established platforms like Twitter.

    EU’s industry commissioner, Thierry Breton, has made his first public comments on the Threads situation, stating that “taking a little time to do so seems to me to be probably good policy.” These remarks were made during an interview with French radio station Franceinfo.

    Although Threads has encountered challenges with EU data privacy legislation, it has experienced rapid growth.

    Twitter likely to sue Zuckerberg over new app Threads

    Meta, the parent company of Threads and Facebook, reported that the app garnered 10 million users within the first seven hours of its launch, surpassing 30 million users by Thursday morning. Within approximately 24 hours, this number had more than doubled.

    However, Threads still has a significant gap to close in order to catch up with its main competitor, Twitter. With 100 million users, Threads currently represents less than a third of Twitter’s estimated 350 million user base.

    Some Twitter users have expressed disillusionment since billionaire Elon Musk assumed ownership of the platform. Under his leadership, the company has undergone significant job cuts, and Musk has introduced various changes aimed at generating revenue.

  • Elon Musk taking training sessions ahead of fight against Mark Zuckerberg

    Elon Musk taking training sessions ahead of fight against Mark Zuckerberg

    It appears that Elon Musk is highly committed to his potential fight against Mark Zuckerberg.

    Both the Twitter CEO and Facebook founder have agreed to engage in a cage fight, and Musk is wasting no time in his preparations.

    Recent reports and accompanying images show Musk actively training with Lex Fridman, a scientist affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

    Fridman, who is also a Brazilian jiu-jitsu Black Belt, took to social media to share two photos of the session.

    A noted by talkSPORT, the BJJ Black Belt was impressed by Musk during the session.

    “I’m extremely impressed with his strength, power, and skill, on the feet and on the ground. It was epic. It’s really inspiring to see Elon and Mark doing martial arts,” he said.

    The South African-born Musk has also accepted an offer from UFC legend, Georges St-Pierre, to train him for the fight against Zuckerberg.

    During his childhood, the Space X owner previously trained in Kyokushin karate, taekwondo, judo, and BJJ, while Facebook’s boss has won medals in jiu-jitsu skills at a recent tournament.

    UFC Heavyweight champion, Jon ‘Bones’ Jones, has also offered to train Zuckerberg for the fight, which could take place in UFC’s Octagon.

    Jon Jones backs Mark Zuckerberg

    As Sports Brief reported, Jones has offered Zuckerberg his services ahead of his potential fight against Musk.

    The Meta chief and the Twitter boss could contest the strangest cage fight after an exchange on social media.

  • Meta to let go of 10,000 employees

    Meta to let go of 10,000 employees

    Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced Tuesday that it will lay off 10,000 workers in its second major round of layoffs in less than four months.

    This makes it the social media giant the latest U.S. company to reduce its workforce this year, following cuts at Disney, eBay, General Motors, Twitter, and Yahoo.

    Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the social media company is cutting 10,000 of its its nearly 87,000 employees (roughly 12% of its workforce) over the next two months and closing another 5,000 open positions that had not been filled, bringing Meta’s total number of job cuts since November to 21,000 and sending its shares up 4% Tuesday morning.

    “Here’s the timeline you should expect: over the next couple of months, org leaders will announce restructuring plans focused on flattening our orgs, canceling lower priority projects, and reducing our hiring rates,” Zuckerberg said in a message to employees, which was also posted to the technology company’s blog.

    He also stated that Facebook’s parent company intends to fill 5,000 additional open positions. In an apparent reference to the company’s continued economic uncertainty, Zuckerberg stated that it should be prepared for “the possibility that this new economic reality will continue for many years.”

    Meta said in an SEC filing announcing the cuts that it expected lower total expenses in 2023, ranging from $86 billion to $92 billion.

    The new round of layoffs follows a previous round of layoffs announced in November, which affected over 11,000 workers, or roughly 13% of Meta’s total workforce.

  • Paid verification service to be launched by Meta

    Paid verification service to be launched by Meta

    According to a post Mark Zuckerberg made on Instagram on Sunday, Meta is developing a subscription service that would let users of Instagram and Facebook pay to become verified.

    “Meta Verified” will start at $11.99 a month on the web or $14.99 a month on iOS, and the company will begin releasing it in Australia and New Zealand this week and “more countries soon.”

    Further benefits of the service include increased defense against impersonator accounts and easy access to customer service.

    Customers who desire the blue badge must present a government ID that matches their profile name and photo in order to prevent false accounts. Moreover, users must be older than 18 to qualify.

    “This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services,” Zuckerberg wrote in an Instagram broadcast channel.

    In a statement, Meta clarified there will be no changes to accounts that are already verified. Verification was previously for users who are “authentic and notable.”

    “We are evolving the meaning of the blue badge to focus on authenticity so we can expand verification access to more people,” a Meta spokesperson said. “We will display follower count in more places so people can distinguish which accounts are notable public figures among accounts that share the same name.”

    Meta joins other platforms, like Discord, Reddit and YouTube, who have their own subscription-based models.

    Twitter relaunched its own verification subscription service, Twitter Blue, in December, after an onset of fake “verified” accounts forced it to pull the feature. The check mark options now have different colors to differentiate between accounts: gold checks for companies, gray checks for government entities and other organizations, and blue checks for individuals, whether or not they are celebrities.

    Twitter Blue costs $11 a month for iOS and Android subscribers, part of owner Elon Musk’s attempt to raise its subscriptions business after buying the platform for $44 billion.

  • Meta eliminates over 11,000 jobs -the highest number in its history

    Facebook’s parent company, whose stock has lost more than two-thirds of its value, also announced plans to cut discretionary spending and extend its hiring freeze into the first quarter.On Wednesday, Meta Platforms Inc announced the layoff of 13% of its workforce, or more than 11,000 employees, in one of the largest technology layoffs this year as the Facebook parent company battles rising costs and a weak advertising market.

    The massive layoffs, the first in Meta’s 18-year history, come on the heels of thousands of layoffs at other leading technology companies such as Elon Musk’s Twitter and Microsoft Corp.

    The pandemic boom that boosted tech companies and their valuations has turned into a bust this year in the face of decades-high inflation and rapidly rising interest rates.

    Meta, whose shares have lost more than two-thirds of their value, said it also plans to cut discretionary spending and extend its hiring freeze through the first quarter.

    “Today I’m sharing some of the most difficult changes we’ve made in Meta’s history,” the company’s founder Mark Zuckerberg said in a message to employees announcing the layoffs.

    “I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here. I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry to those impacted.”

    Potential recession

    An economic slowdown and a grim outlook for online advertising – by far Meta’s biggest revenue source – have contributed to the company’s woes. This summer, Meta posted its first quarterly revenue decline in history, followed by another, bigger decline in the fall.

    Some of the pain is company-specific, while some is tied to broader economic and technological forces.

    Last week, Twitter laid off about half of its 7,500 employees, part of a chaotic overhaul as Musk took the helm. He tweeted there was no choice but to cut the jobs “when the company is losing more than $4M/day”, though did not provide details about the losses.

    Meta has worried investors by pouring more than $10bn a year into the “metaverse” as it shifts its focus away from social media.

    Zuckerberg predicts the metaverse, an immersive digital universe, will eventually replace smartphones as the primary way people use technology.

    Meta and its advertisers are bracing for a potential recession. There is also the challenge of Apple’s privacy tools, which make it more difficult for social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Snap to track people without their consent and show them specially tailored advertisements.

    Competition from TikTok is also an a growing threat as younger people flock to the video sharing app over Instagram, which Meta also owns.

    Meta’s profits fell to $4.4bn in the last quarter, a 52 percent decrease year-on-year.

    “Fundamentally, we’re making all these changes for two reasons: our revenue outlook is lower than we expected at the beginning of this year, and we want to make sure we’re operating efficiently,” wrote Zuckerberg.

  • Meta Stock Crash Steepens As Facebook Parent Grapples With Recession Fears

    TOPLINE

    Facebook parent Meta Platforms reported earnings Wednesday that fell short of expectations, pummeling the company’s stock in after-hours trading as the social media giant with metaverse ambitions scrambles to cut costs amid advertising headwinds spurred by concerns about the global economy.

    KEY FACTS

    Meta reported a net income of $4.4 billion, or $1.64 per share, cratering 49% year over year and falling short of expectations for $1.89 per share; revenue of $27.7 billion fared slightly better than the $27.4 billion analysts were forecasting, but down 4% from one year ago.

    The company also said its revenue this quarter would fall between $30 billion and $32.5 billion—toward the lower end of average analyst expectations.

    Meta shares sank 11% to $115 immediately after the report, pushing losses to more than 61% this year alone—far worse than the tech-heavy Nasdaq’s 30% decline.

    In a pre-earnings note, Bank of America analyst Justin Post downgraded shares of Meta to a neutral rating, saying the firm’s investment in the immersive virtual reality world known as the metaverse “will remain [an] overhang” on the stock, costing an estimated $10.7 billion next year even as economic concerns potentially intensify.

    The report comes less than a month after Meta announced plans to cut costs by restructuring some teams and instituting a hiring freeze as advertising revenue growth slows amid economic pressures, which are quickly mounting: On Monday, an investor with more than $300 million worth of shares urged the company to further slash expenses by laying off employees.

    In the earnings release, Meta CFO David Wehner said the company has “increased scrutiny on all areas of operating expenses” but it also said its employee headcount would remain roughly flat next year from current levels; in the third quarter, the company’s free cash flow, which measures cash left over after operating expenses, cratered to $173 million from $9.5 billion a year ago.

    FORBES VALUATION

    $47.2 billion. That’s how much Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, 38, was worth when the market closed on Wednesday. At one point worth more than $130 billion, Zuckerberg’s fortune has plunged by more than 60% since Meta stock peaked in September 2021.

    KEY BACKGROUND

    Global economies have started to slow down as central banks including the Federal Reserve work to combat inflation by tempering consumer demand with higher interest rates. Recent earnings reports have started to reflect the pressures. On Tuesday, Alphabet stock plunged after the Google parent missed third-quarter sales and profit expectations. The company’s YouTube advertising unit posted a much weaker-than-forecast $7.1 billion, versus average expectations of about $7.5 billion. In a note, analyst Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge pointed out that YouTube and social media advertising is typically much less resilient during economic downturns than other types of ads.

    CRUCIAL QUOTE

    “I had hoped the economy would have more clearly stabilized by now,” Zuckerberg reportedly told employees at a meeting outlining the company’s cost-cutting plan last month. “But from what we’re seeing it doesn’t yet seem like it has, so we want to plan somewhat conservatively.”

     

  • Mark Zuckerberg urged to spend less on metaverse after suffering ‘supersized and terrifying losses’

    When asked why his company is focused on experimental bets, Zuckerberg said: “It would be a mistake for us to not focus on any of these areas that will be fundamentally important to our future.”

    Facebook’s parent company is metaverse under pressure to focus less on the metaverse – as investors say it is an experimental bet causing “supersized and terrifying losses”.

    The tech giant changed its name to Meta last year under plans to build a virtual world that would be used by millions of people.

    But Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse has been beset by technical problems, with user numbers far below the targets set by executives.

    Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies at a House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, U.S., October 23, 2019

    The latest figures show Reality Labs, the division building the metaverse, lost £3.16bn between July and September, compared with £2.27bn in the same period a year earlier.

    Investors rushed to dump Meta’s stock after the company warned that losses linked to the metaverse “will grow significantly” next year.

    When asked why his company is focused on experimental bets, Zuckerberg said: “It would be a mistake for us to not focus on any of these areas that will be fundamentally important to our future.”

    But analysts have said that the metaverse “feels like one big gamble” – especially given the current economic crisis – and fear the road ahead will be “long and painful”.

    The virtual reality headsets required to get the best experience in Meta’s virtual world are pricy. One costs £1,300 – putting it out of the reach of many consumers.

    Paolo Pescatore from PP Foresight said: “People are not rushing out of their seats to buy a VR headset or even watch 360-degree videos … The new device still feels like an expensive toy.”

    Earlier this week, a fund that invests in Meta called on the company to cut its yearly investment in the metaverse from $10 billion to $5 billion.

    Altimeter Capital’s CEO, Brad Gerstner, warned: “Meta has drifted into the land of excess – too many people, too many ideas, too little urgency.

    “This lack of focus and fitness is obscured when growth is easy but deadly when growth slows and technology changes.”

    Meanwhile, Insider Intelligence analyst Debra Aho Williamson has warned that Meta needs to turn its business around – focusing less on the metaverse and more on fixing its core business.

    “As Facebook Inc, was a revolutionary company that changed the way people communicate and the way marketers interact with consumers. Today it’s no longer that innovative groundbreaker.”

    Meta – which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp – has other clouds on the horizon as it battles falling advertising sales and stiff competition from TikTok.

    Revenue in the third quarter fell for a second consecutive time to £23.83bn.

    Meta’s share price is in danger of falling to its lowest level in six years – and the stock has plunged by 61.6% since the year began.

    Source: Skynews.com

     

  • Mark Zuckerberg sheds more light on on what it’s like running an organization with his wife, Priscilla Chan

    More information on how Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, manage an organization has been provided by Mark Zuckerberg.

    The CEO of Meta recently had a three-hour conversation about the metaverse, content management, and other topics on the “Joe Rogan Experience.”

    Rogan and Zuckerberg were discussing the executive’s passion projects and how he plans to spend his time in the present and the future.
    He spoke on several things, including his work in charities with Chan, his 2012 bride and college love.

    “It’s been really cool getting the chance to work with my wife Priscilla on this, it’s opened up a whole new side of our relationship, where it’s like we were partners and now we also get to work together,” Zuckerberg told Rogan. “She’s brilliant, she’s a doctor and understands so many more things about biological science than I do and I can bring this whole engineering perspective, and we learn so much from doing that together.”

    Chan graduated from Harvard in 2007 and earned a medical degree from the University of California San Francisco.

    In 2015, the couple founded the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a philanthropic organization focused on a range of causes, including developing cures to eradicate diseases and improving education. The group says it has awarded almost $3 billion in grants since then.

    And in 2017, Zuckerberg said he planned to sell 35 to 75 million shares over the following year and a half to fund the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, totaling between $6 billion to $12 billion.

    Zuckerberg and Chan share two children, Maxima and August, together. He opened up about his life as a parent in March when he told podcaster Lex Fridman about his evening ritual with his two daughters, a routine he dubbed the “goodnight things.”

    “I basically go through with Max and Augie, what are the things that are most important in life?” he said.

     

     

  • Facebook is redesigning the home feed

    Starting Thursday, the platform is splitting up its main “home” section into two tabs. The move is part of a push by Facebook to show users more entertaining, recommended content — to become what cofounder Mark Zuckerberg has called a “discovery engine” — as it seeks to better compete with rivals like TikTok for users’ time and attention.
    Now, when users open Facebook (FB), they will see a home tab designed to help them discover new content based on personalized, machine learning-powered recommendations. The home tab will also feature Facebook Stories and Instagram Reels, which the company is now encouraging users to post to both platforms.
    Beside the home tab will be a new “feeds” tab that won’t contain any suggested content, but rather will let users see the most recent posts from friends, as well as groups and pages they follow. Within the feeds tab, users can also create a “favorites” feed to filter the friends, pages and groups they care most about.
    Both tabs will still include advertisements, according to the company. And the other tabs users are used to, such as Facebook Watch and Groups, will remain the same.
    The Facebook app is launching a redesign that includes a new “Feeds” tab that will feature a chronological feed of content from users’ friends, as well as groups and pages they follow.
    “We understand you may want more options when it comes to sorting and seeing your content,” the company said in a statement. “There are times you might know just what you’re looking for — say, the latest posts from your groups — or you may want to encounter fresh, entertaining content.”
    The new look for the platform comes on the heels of an announcement last week that Facebook will now allow users to have up to five profiles under each account. Facebook said the option is intended to make it easier for users to tailor their experience when engaging with certain communities — say, friends versus coworkers — on the platform.
    For years, Facebook and its sibling platform Instagram have been accused of copying the popular new features of rival platforms instead of innovating their own. Instagram Reels, which Meta is now attempting to more deeply integrate into Facebook, are nearly identical to TikTok videos (in fact, when the feature first launched, many users simply uploaded TikTok videos to Instagram, complete with the rival logo). The platform updates also seem like an attempt to mimic TikTok’s success at keeping users hooked by showing them recommended content, although Facebook appears to want to give users some choice in engaging with the new direction or continuing to use the platform as they always have.
    Facebook users may soon be able to create multiple profiles under their accounts
    Facebook parent company Meta (FB) is trying to stave off fierce competition from TikTok, which is contributing to slowing profit growth at the company.​​ In February, Meta shocked investors by posting a rare stalling in quarterly user growth, a trend that reversed slightly in the first quarter of this year. The company is set to report earnings next week for the three months ended in June, for which it had projected total revenue of between $28 billion and $30 billion — an estimate that would be nearly in line with the prior year’s results.
    Meta is in the midst of transitioning to a company centered around a future, augmented- and virtual-reality enabled “metaverse,” rather than social media. But it needs to keep raking in profits from its existing platforms to fund investments into that vision.
    The new feeds tab will start appearing in Facebook’s shortcuts bar for some users on Thursday, and is expected to roll out globally over the next week.
    Source: CNN

  • Holocaust survivors urge Facebook to remove genocide denial posts

    Holocaust survivors launched a campaign Wednesday in which they plan to upload daily videos to Facebook urging CEO Mark Zuckerberg to remove posts from the site that deny the Nazi genocide of Jews. Survivors from around the globe, including Anne Frank’s stepsister, have recorded 30-second messages that are then posted on social media, including Instagram and Twitter, with the hashtag #NoDenyingIt.

    The online campaign comes as hundreds of advertisers boycott Facebook as part of a call for them to take more aggressive action against toxic and inflammatory content that promotes violence and hate.

    “I lost all my family. Many, many family members. There is no denying it! Remove Holocaust denial from Facebook,” Eva Schloss, Frank’s stepsister, says in her video.

    Other survivors who have contributed to the project include 84-year-old Serge Klarsfeld, a prominent so-called Nazi hunter who has helped track down and expose Nazi war criminals.

    The campaign has been organized by the New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

    The non-profit works to seek compensation from the German government and the return of Jewish property stolen by the Nazis.

    Zuckerberg, who is Jewish, sparked controversy in 2018 when he argued that Facebook should not filter out posts denying that the Nazis killed six million Jews.

    In an interview with tech website Recode he said that while Facebook was dedicated to stopping the spread of fake news, it would not filter out posts just on the basis of being factually wrong.

    He said that while he found Holocaust denial “deeply offensive,” he said he didn’t think deniers were “intentionally getting it wrong.”

    Critics lashed out at Zuckerberg, saying these types of comments can incite hatred and violence and pointing out that Holocaust denial was “quintessential fake news.”

    Facebook said in a statement that it removes posts that deny the Holocaust in countries where such statements are illegal, such as Germany, France and Poland.

    In the US and Britain, where Holocaust denial is not illegal — because of free speech laws — Facebook monitors such posts to determine whether they violate the site’s guidelines.

    “We take down any post that celebrates, defends, or attempts to justify the Holocaust,” a spokesperson said.

    Nearly 1,000 advertisers, including behemoth brands such as Coca-Cola, Hershey and Adidas, have temporarily paused advertising on Facebook, saying the leading social network site needs to better police hate speech.

    Earlier this month, organizers vowed to press on with the boycott, saying top executives, including Zuckerberg, had failed to offer any meaningful action on curbing hateful content.

    Facebook has steadfastly refused to fact-check political speech and has a largely hands-off policy on comments from world leaders, but says it is committed to freeing the site of hate speech.

    Recently, Facebook did appear to make some changes, including removing a Trump campaign ad featuring a Nazi symbol.

    The company also said it would tag posts from world leaders that violate its policies even if they remain accessible because they are “newsworthy.”

    This month, an independent audit commissioned by Facebook in 2018 found that the California giant had undermined civil rights, including by allowing posts by Trump that violate the network’s values.

    Source: AFP