Facebook's Zuckerberg Shows Softer Side to Oprah
Facebook founder appears on "Oprah" to announce $100m donation to schools.
Sept. 24, 2010— -- Shedding his signature hooded sweatshirt and stoicism, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg showed off a softer side on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" today as he announced a $100 million gift to public schools.
Appearing with Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a grinning Zuckerberg announced the creation of the Startup: Education foundation, an initiative aimed at improving education across the country and starting with the previously reported $100 million donation. He said the first project would target Newark, a city in which nearly half of all students don't graduate from high school.
Looking sharp in a blazer and jeans, the famously private 26-year-old CEO offered an unprecedented window into his life, allowing Winfrey's cameras to tape him inside the rented Palo Alto home he shares with his longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan.
Zuckerberg gave the crew a tour of his modest digs, pointing out his study and kitchen. The cameras also caught Zuckerberg practicing Chinese and pecking Chan on the lips.
Asked by Winfrey why he chose to fund a foundation dedicated to education, he said, "Every child deserves a good education and right now that's not happening."
"I've had a lot of opportunities in my life and a lot of that comes from having gone to really good schools. And I want to do what I can to make sure everyone has those opportunities," said the Harvard-educated billionaire, adding that he hopes to "turn Newark into a symbol of educational excellence for the whole nation."
In the lead-up to today's announcement, some in the technology community wondered about the timing of Zuckerberg's $100 million announcement. His "Oprah" appearance comes just one week before the release of "The Social Network," a controversial movie about the founding of Facebook, and two days after Forbes magazine named him the 35th richest American.
Winfrey addressed the timing issue head on, saying "Some people undoubtedly are going to be criticizing the timing of Mark's announcement because we know that there is an unauthorized movie coming out about Mark and Facebook ."
But she emphasized that Zuckerberg's donation had been in the works for months and that it took some cajoling to convince him to appear on her show.
"You're such a shy person and you've been talking about this for months and months and months," she said. "You wanted to remain anonymous and we talked you into coming on here."
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