The Accidental Billionaires: Sex, Money, Betrayal and the Founding of Facebook

by Ben Mezrich (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2010

  $3.27

  Eduardo Saverin and Mark Zuckerberg - an awkward maths prodigy and a painfully shy computer genius - were never going to fit in at elite, polished Harvard. Yet that all changed when master-hacker Mark crashed the university's entire computer system by creating a rateable database of female students. Narrowly escaping expulsion, the two misfits refocused the site into something less controversial - 'The Facebook' - and watched as it spread like a wildfire across campuses around the country, along with their popularity. Yet amidst the dizzying levels of cash and glamour, as silicon valley, venture capitalists and reams of girls beckoned, the first cracks in their friendship started to appear, and what began as a simple argument spiralled into an out-and-out war. The great irony is that Facebook succeeded by bringing people together - but its very success tore two best friends apart.

• Used

  Paperback
  2009

  $3.40

  At Harvard, social acceptance and success with the opposite sex had to be applied for. In the absence of family money or innate charisma, misfit and maths prodigy Eduardo Saverin dreamed of joining one of Harvard's elite Final clubs. His best friend, painfully shy computer genius Mark Zuckerberg, turned instead to his natural talents, hacking into the university's computer system to create a rateable database of every female student on campus. Narrowly escaping expulsion after 80 per cent of Harvard's population voted in just two hours, crashing the entire computer system, Mark and Eduardo together refocused the site into something less controversial - 'The Facebook' - which spread like a wildfire across campuses around the country. Within months hundreds of thousands of college kids had signed up. Suddenly Eduardo and Mark were getting nods not just from the female population, but from venture capitalists too. It was then, amidst the dizzying levels of cash and the promise of unbelievable power, that the first cracks in their friendship started to appear, and what began as a simple argument spiralled into an out-and-out war. The great irony is that Facebook succeeded by bringing people together - but its very success tore two best friends apart.