1) Facebook founder Mark Zuckenberg

He is No. 35 on list of Forbes

Mark Zuckerberg

$17.5 B

27

Facebook

United States

Age: 28
Source of Wealth: Facebook,
Self-made Residence: Palo Alto, CA
Country of Citizenship: United States
Education: Drop Out, Harvard University
Marital Status: Married

The Story

Zuckerberg launched Facebook from his Harvard dormitory room on February 4, 2004.An earlier inspiration for Facebook may have come from Phillips Exeter Academy, the prep school from which Zuckerberg graduated in 2002. It published its own student directory, “The Photo Address Book,” which students referred to as “The Facebook.” Such photo directories were an important part of the student social experience at many private schools. With them, students were able to list attributes such as their class years, their proximities to friends, and their telephone numbers. Watch his story here on Bloomberg TV: http://www.bloomberg.com/video/71262738-facebook-s-mark-zuckerberg-revealed.html

In an interview in 2007, Zuckerberg explained his reasoning:

It's not because of the amount of money. For me and my colleagues, the most important thing is that we create an open information flow for people. Having media corporations owned by conglomerates is just not an attractive idea to me.

The Future of Facebook: Mining the Human Cloud

Unlike Google, Facebook knows more about you than you know about yourself. They not only understand the way you communicate, but have a clear view of your entire social graph over an extended period of your life, possibly for some born today, your entire life. Facebook now has 845 million monthly active Users who “Like” or comment 2.7 billion times per day. There has never been any single company or organization, with exception of possibly the US or Chinese government, who have been able to map the relationships of people around the globe to the extent Facebook has been able to do. Facebook has created the largest social analytics engine on the planet. They essentially know what we’re thinking before we do. Using this raw data they can effectively predict trends and more importantly capitalize on these trends with the greatest of ease. Imagine applying the type of social data to stock market trends or seasonal buying habits, or a multitude of other market trends to predict potential outcomes. Now imagine being able to buy this information as an on demand service. Facebook is now both the producer, broker and distributor of the one of the most important sources of information.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/reuvencohen/2012/05/11/the-future-of-facebook-mining-the-human-cloud/