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March 26, 2024 56 mins

How one social media site birthed an empire. The story of Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook.

BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng take us from Zuckerberg's childhood to joining the billionaires' club at just 23, then on to his current status as one of the four richest people on the planet. He dropped out of Harvard to mix with other founders in Silicon Valley, and still retains absolute control over his company, now called Meta.

From buying up Instagram and WhatsApp to getting investments from Peter Thiel and Bill Gates, Simon and Zing trace Zuckerberg's spectacular rise. Plus discover what was true and what was made up in David Fincher's film about him, The Social Network.

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