Technology - Changing the Face of Big Business CEOs

Mark Zuckerberg, 22 years old, computer programmer, Psychology major at Harvard University-Drop out, spends most of his time computer programming, David Sze, venture capitalist who led the investment for Greylock, is quoted as saying, "Mark is the kind of guy you worry needs to get other things in his life."

Chad Hurley, 29 years old, BA in Design from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, previously employed by PayPal.com, Spent 2 years in between jobs working in his garage on digital videos.

Steve Chen & Jawed Karim, both 27 years old, studied computer science together at The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, previously employed by Paypal.com, spend their time watching, developing and distributing digital videos.

Tom Anderson, 31 years old, BA in English and Rhetoric from University of California, Berkley, and Masters Degree in Film -Critical studies, musician, and his interests include: the Internet, movies, Karaoke, music and building alternate communities.

What do all of these "kids" have in common? Besides the obvious obsession with computers and the internet, they all own successful, powerful, multi-million dollar internet companies.

The internet has developed into an entirely different type of battle field for businesses, where twenty something computer nerds hold the highest stakes. With the ease & ability to innovate change using this new medium, everyone has grasped onto the idea and is slowly becoming affluent in what was once a foreign language to those living before the Bill Gates revolution. But, although everyone is slowly growing more familiar with technology's forefront, the younger generation seems to think of internet uses that are "outside of the box," developing businesses that are transforming the world.

Mark Zuckerberg created "Facebook.com," while attending Harvard University his freshman year. His goal was to create a place where students could interact with each other; He was disappointed with the lack of friendliness and involvement that the student's had with each other. In an interview with "Current Magazine" he is quoted as saying, "Harvard is a fairly un-friendly place." Within one week he created the basic framework for the site, originally named "The Facebook." He succeeded in spanning the site to colleges around the United States, and soon after invested $200,000.00 to purchase the URL, "Facebook.com."

He is the founder and CEO of "Facebook.com", which is the main online community used by college students throughout the United States. Supporting 882 colleges out of some 2,000 including community colleges; According to Chris Hughes (Co-developer of "Facebook.com",) 85% of students in the U.S. are members, 60% of which log in daily and 93% log in at least once a month. This survey was taken in 2004, but the site has grown light years since.

In January of 2006, VIACOM offered Zuckerberg $750 million dollars for the rights to "Facebook.com". He refused, and counter-offered with a $2 billion dollar proposition.

Arrogant, stupid, or was he just begging VIACOM to say no?

Zuckerberg didn't pay someone to build this site, he developed the idea, the programming and the implementation; How could he sell it? It's admirable, but might lead to the potential demise of the computer savvy, not-so business savvy entrepreneurs of today's internet market.

Less than one week ago, Yahoo offered him $900 million dollars and a promise to keep the company partially self-regulating with Zuckerberg in charge. As of September 27, 2006 he is still not sure whether or not to sell. Zuckerberg, 22 years old, brought Yahoo to their knees.

Chad Hurley, Steven Chen and Jawed Karin developed the digital video sharing website, "YouTube.com". The site allows you to upload videos and view other's videos free of charge. They experimented with providing digital video sharing opportunities on the web, and finally went life with "YouTube.com" on February 15, 2005. They released the site only a year and a half ago and have already accumulated an overwhelming amount of viewers and fans. Things started moving very fast…

November, 2006: Sequoia (venture capital firm) invested $3.5 Million dollars in "YouTube.com"

April, 2006: Sequoia invests $8 Million dollars more!

August 18, 2006: United Kingdom Central Office of Information Posts Videos on "YouTube.com" communicating the government's current agenda and plans. They hoped to spark interest and popularity among citizens.

September 19, 2006: United States Federal Government posts 12 anti-drug videos hoping to gain exposure and effectiveness through its "anti-drug" campaign.

According to the Wall Street Journal, there are over 6.1 million videos on "YouTube.com", 12 of which are funded, produced and distributed by the Federal Government! The "Bivings Report" claims that YouTube is losing $500,000 a month; but there is something to be said about the power that the website has, losing money or making it.

Tom Anderson is the co-founder of "MySpace.com" with partner Chris DeWolfe. Similar to Facebook in that it is an online community that has a substantial youthful following. One main difference, as of now, is that anyone can start an account with MySpace; to create your own profile on Facebook you need to be a student or alumni with an email address corresponding to that school.
According to Hitwise.com, MySpace represents 4.5% of all Internet users in the U.S., and MySpace stat reports claim they are averaging 500,000 new users a week. Can you imagine, 4.5% of all the internet users in all of the U.S. will be going to the same site? If this doesn't equivilate to power, I don't know what does. MySpace is calling all of the shots as of July, 2006, it is the #1 website visited out of all other websites in the U.S.

There is a lot of speculation that MySpace will span throughout the entire world, starting with China. The most recent news regarding MySpace's transition to countries beyond the U.S. is Tuesday, Sept 19, Rupert Murdoch of News Corp (purchased MySpace last year for a reported $580 million dollars, Anderson still plays a vital role in the company) said that he was having his wife focus on the development of their MySpace initiative in China stating, "Because she knows the language."

The Internet provides alternate universes, with virtual games, pseudo lives, entire communities representing millions of people who have never even met. Though it is an interesting concept to grasp, it seams as though the younger generation has mastered it. The one real aspect of the internet and what it can achieve: Money, Power. I'm sure this was not the goal as these computer programmers worked diligently to create their internet worlds; but they have certainly managed to attain both.