Eduardo Saverin co-founded Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg during their time at Harvard. Initially, Saverin invested in the company and was promised a significant share. However, as Facebook grew, Zuckerberg and others restructured the company, diluting Saverin's stake. Feeling betrayed, Saverin sued for his original share. The lawsuit was settled, and Saverin was reinstated as a co-founder, though the financial details remain confidential. Despite this, Facebook's expansion continued, reaching over two hundred million users by 2009.
In October 2003, Harvard undergraduates Eduardo Saverin and Mark Zuckerberg, who were not part of the popular student groups, became friends. Zuckerberg, a computer science major, had previously turned down a two-million-dollar offer from Microsoft for a software program he developed. Saverin, a business major, had earned $300,000 by investing in oil futures. Both sought acceptance; Saverin aimed to join Harvard's exclusive Phoenix club, primarily to meet girls. One night, after an unsuccessful outing with girls, Zuckerberg returned to his dorm and began working on a "hot or not" website concept suggested by friends. He decided to hack into Harvard's server to access more student photos for his site, Facemash.com. By 4:00 am, he had downloaded thousands of pictures. Zuckerberg quickly set up Facemash.com, allowing users to vote on who was hotter, and shared it with friends. The site went viral, logging twenty-two thousand votes in just under two hours. Realizing the potential legal issues and the irreversible nature of internet postings, Zuckerberg shut down Facemash, anticipating significant trouble. This early venture highlighted Zuckerberg's knack for creating engaging online platforms, setting the stage for the development of Facebook, despite the controversy and challenges it brought.
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