{"id":12986,"date":"2023-11-27T07:15:09","date_gmt":"2023-11-27T06:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ceoinfluencers.com\/?p=12986"},"modified":"2023-11-27T07:15:09","modified_gmt":"2023-11-27T06:15:09","slug":"did-mark-zuckerberg-betray-eduardo-saverin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ceoinfluencers.com\/did-mark-zuckerberg-betray-eduardo-saverin\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Mark Zuckerberg Betray Eduardo Saverin"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Introduction<\/h2>\n

Mark Zuckerberg is a household name, especially since the release of the movie “The Social Network” in 2010. He is the co-founder and CEO of the world’s leading social media platform, Facebook. However, the story of how Mark and Facebook came to be is one of disputes, betrayal and lawsuits. This article examines the background story of Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin, and the causal link of their alleged betrayal towards each other. <\/p>\n

Timeline Overview<\/h2>\n

At the heart of the saga is the dispute between Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin over the control of Facebook. The pair first recognized the potential of Facebook in 2004 when they founded it while at Harvard together. Eduardo Saverin soon dropped out of Harvard in 2005 and invested in the project now known as Facebook. It was not until two months later that Mark Zuckerberg officially registered the domain.
\nThe Summer of 2006 saw the coming of Sean Parker, the former president of Napster and founding president of Facebook. It was then that misunderstandings and rifts began developing between Mark and Eduardo. Allegedly, Mark removed Eduardo’s name from the Facebook employee list and replaced it with a fake name on the shareholder list. It was reported that Mark manipulated the stock certificates to reflect a lower number of shares thus reducing Eduardo’s initial 30% stake of the company to only 3%.
\nSoon after, the partnership between Mark Zuckerberg and Sean Parker further infuriated Eduardo Saverin. In October of 2006, Sean attempted to pay off the founding members of Facebook including Eduardo by relinquishing control of shares to the company’s board members. The board then decided to reduce Eduardo’s stake in Facebook from 30% to 0.03%. That marked the official departure of Eduardo Saverin from Facebook. <\/p>\n

Eduardo Saverin’s Lawsuit<\/h2>\n

Furious with his treatment, Eduardo decided to take this matter to court in July of 2011. He sued Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook claiming that Mark had effectively stolen his stake in the company when Mark manipulated the stock certificates. The accusation triggered a lot of media buzz as the amounts being claimed by Eduardo surpassed a whopping $1 billion.
\nThe case was heard in a Delaware court and the verdict was in Mark Zuckerberg’s favour. The judge stated that Mark had done no wrong and since they were still in a corporation, individual grievances cannot be taken into account. As a result, Eduardo had to settle the case with Facebook and relinquish his lawsuit.
\nHe then agreed to settle for a 5% stake in the company and the resolution to the case was amicably reached.<\/p>\n

Spying Allegations<\/h2>\n

The allegations do not end there. After stepping down from Facebook, Eduardo decided to invest in another social media platform called Qwiki. This is when things took a suspicious turn. In 2013, it was alleged by a former employee of Qwiki, Ben Mezrich that Mark Zuckerberg sent spies disguised as interns to infiltrate Qwiki and learn about the company’s internal plans in order to gain an upper hand in the competition.
\nDespite the accusations, Facebook continued to deny these claims vociferously and stated that it was done in order to gauge public opinion of their products.<\/p>\n

Relationship Now<\/h2>\n