Great article from Roger Hamilton;
Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Branson, Bill Gates & Steve Jobs – What was each doing (and wearing) at 28 years old?
Mark Zuckerberg turns 28 years old today. He gets a belated present on Friday, when Facebook’s shares will be floated at a value of around $100 billion. Mark’s shares will be worth about $24 billion. Yet most of the media stories last week seem to be about his hoodie… What were other well-known entrepreneurs doing (and wearing) when they were 28 years old?
When Richard Branson was 28 years old, in 1978, he was working with Mike Oldfield (remember Tubular Bells?) and the Sex Pistols. He had started Virgin Records, but it was still another 6 years before he launched Virgin Atlantic, and another 14 years before he turned success into cash with the sale of the Virgin label to EMI (For £500 million). That’s him next to Mike Oldfield, in the black and white photo with the sparkly black jumper.
Bill Gates reached 28 years old in 1983. That’s just 2 years after launching Microsoft in Washington with the IBM contract for MS-DOS. It was the very early days, still 2 years before the launch of Windows, and 3 years before Microsoft had its IPO (It was worth $780 million when it listed, and Gates was worth $350 million at that point. That means Microsoft was worth less than 1% of Facebook’s market value at time of listing). At 28, Gates hadn’t hit millionaire status, and yes, that’s him striking a pose on the PC in his white jumper and grey slacks in 1983…
Steve Jobs also reached 28 years old in 1983. It was the year he launched the Macintosh. Apple had its IPO in 1980, and was worth $1.7 billion when it listed. Steve was worth $250 million at 28, but within 2 years he was thrown out of Apple, and he ended up spending most of his first fortune over the next 10 years on his new start-ups, NeXT and Pixar. It was 14 years before he returned to Apple at the age of 42. As you can see from the photo of Steve in his zen pose with his new Macintosh, he had already adopted his uniform of black turtleneck and blue jeans at 28.
Mark reaches 28 years old with 100 times the wealth his predecessors had at his age. It’s a sign of the times – from the multiplier effect of a virtual world that’s grown to 2 billion online, the money in the markets, and the decline of the dollar. Yet he reaches 28 with the same number of years as the others to refine his fashion statement. So I’d say wearing a hoodie to Wall Street is an improvement on a black sparkly jumper. Or striking a pose ala young Bill Gates on a PC…
Holy cow, the dude’s only 28 years old!
Given that the other three still had all their greatest achievements ahead of them at 28, it’s going to be fun to see what Mark gets up to in the years ahead. And as we’re all here on Facebook, we’ll all be part of the ride. Happy Birthday, Mark!
