Mark Zuckerberg Opens Up On Oprah (VIDEO): His Home, Relationship, And Major Donation

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared on Oprah Winfrey's show Friday to announce that he is donating $100 million to create a charitable foundation, Startup:Education, that aims to "invest in educating and improving the lives of young people."

Zuckerberg's $100 million grant, in the form of Facebook stock, will go towards improving Newark schools. Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who joined Zuckerberg on Oprah's show together with New Jersey governor Chris Christie, will match his donation.

Although Zuckerberg has little connection to Newark--he grew up in Connecticut and now lives in California--he wrote in a blog post that Newark has "unfortunately become a symbol of public education's failure--of a status quo that accepts schools that don't succeed."

"I've had a lot of opportunities in my life, and a lot of that comes from having gone to really good schools," he told Oprah.

The segment offered a rare peek into Zuckerberg's private life: his sparsely decorated home, which he rents, the Facebook offices, and the CEO's relationship with his girlfriend, Priscilla Chan (See video below).

In a tour of his home--the first time cameras have been allowed inside--Zuckerberg is shown studying Chinese--"Priscilla and I are going to go to China for a vacation at the end of the year," he explained--and even kissing Chan.

Given that "The Social Network" premieres tonight, many have questioned the timing of Zuckerberg's announcement. New York magazine called it the "PR move of the month."

However, Oprah noted that Zuckerberg had initially considered making his donation anonymously. "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." She also told viewers that Zuckerberg had wanted to appear on her show earlier in September, but that her season had not yet started.

Of "The Social Network," Zuckerberg said, "It's a movie, it's fun [...] I can promise you, this is my life so I know it's not that dramatic. The last six years have been a lot of coding and focus and hard work, but maybe it would be fun to remember it as partying and all this crazy drama." (See more about Facebook's reaction to the film here)

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Comments

[dab1000]

09:50 AM on 09/29/2010

A Small way to Say Thank You to Oprah:
http://youtu.be/H9ATXxyOGGI

[MickeyMudTurtle]

11:44 AM on 09/27/2010

Miss Chan seems like a nice lady.

[flossophy]

12:53 AM on 10/06/2010

She won the lottery.

Can you imagine the bevy of beauties who probably threw themselves on Mark over the years.

[Tone67]

08:19 AM on 09/27/2010

Wow, at some of the comments, i suppose sometimes a hundred million is just not enough to satisfy more people. Based on some of the comments i've read i am now 100% convinced that Americans are never satisfied.

All i have to say is you go Mark.

[BcemXAHA]

11:49 AM on 09/27/2010

I'm satisfied, I'm American :). I'm very thankful, very grateful to Mr. Zuckerberg.

[jo smith456]

07:45 AM on 09/27/2010

Would also be nice that he include support to efforts on Net Neutrality, uncensored Internet, and making access to Internet affordable to anyone.

[BcemXAHA]

07:28 AM on 09/27/2010

Thank you Mr.Zuckerberg, Newark desperately needs it.

[James I Kirkland]

09:20 AM on 09/27/2010

And they have a mayor who will use it wisely! A well focused donation.

[BcemXAHA]

11:48 AM on 09/27/2010

I wish he'd toss another one hundred million toward Camden schools :)

[MatthewM]

05:43 AM on 09/27/2010

I've had my doubts about Mark Zuckerberg over the last year or two but hopefully he will become a great philanthropist in the spirit of Bill Gates. Education is one investment that can really pay off big.

[jo smith456]

07:44 AM on 09/27/2010

Also nice that he include support to Net Neutrality, uncensored Internet, and making access to Internet affordable to anyone.

[Hysterian68]

04:16 PM on 09/26/2010

What a wonderful idea. Now, to augment the Zuckerberg gift, Obama needs to cancel the hundred billion dollar student loan debt and have the Government pick up the outstanding loans owed to private bankers. This is the least we can do for the generation we expect will support the rest of us down the road. It is an investment in your own children and grandchildren. It pays real dividends for decades to come. Instead of Obama's payoffs to insurance companies and Wall Street bankers. Good money--our money-- thrown down the drain.

[bogey1]

03:00 PM on 09/26/2010

the money, if indeed donated, is great for newark's school system - the reason for the donation is secondary, but still can be discussed - let's wait until we see the movie and then comment - let's just hope the money gets to helping the students and doesn't wind up elsewhere

[Crogi]

12:14 PM on 09/26/2010

Wow, the first time I heard this, I didn't catch the fact that the donation was in Facebook stock. My Spidey Sense was apparently in the repair shop at the time.

Part of me thinks that this is a fantastic and charitable thing to do, but knowing his attitude towards everything in life, another part of me looks at this and thinks, "the only reason he's doing this is to help protect the value of Facebook stock." He's literally a billionaire. Why not just give them the cash no strings attached?

[Crogi]

12:08 PM on 09/26/2010

Extreme Makeover: CEO Image Edition

[Meldy1]

10:42 AM on 09/26/2010

one big point for Mr.Zuckerberg,no matter what the reasons maybe!Hurray to Newark,it's $100M for crying out loud,lesser american students are very grateful indeed,thank you Mr.Zuckerberg!
The filthy rich Koch brothers are so cruel,donating money to the tea garbage to spread racist fears and anger to the American people,to defend their tax cuts advantage!I will choose the FB of Mr.Zuckerberg with his generosity,for his fellow Americans who are in dire need of this amount.Good and excellent set from him.

[barrada nicto]

03:28 AM on 09/27/2010

Perhaps it's time to prevail upon the Koch brothers to contribute to society in constructive ways.

[Dominick William Rolle]

10:04 AM on 09/26/2010

Until you delete your Facebook accounts in protest against who started the company, nobody really cares if you don't believe him or like him or think he's gay or that his girlfriend is black instead of Chinese. Go to work so that maybe one day your thoughts and opinions will not float meaninglessly in limbo because I assure you they will not affect anything concerning this man's life or his company.

That is all.

[barrada nicto]

03:29 AM on 09/27/2010

A boycott starts with a single person. Sometimes over the smallest provocation.

[3x10p8]

09:27 AM on 09/26/2010

Wow, obviously he hired a PR firm.
I guess he's trying to make Fools out of his 500 Million users one more time.

[Richard Lauren]

03:28 PM on 09/26/2010

Wanting to be anonymous, he goes on Oprah to make the announcement. PR

Last month he was not going to even watch it. REALITY

Now it is just a movie, it's fun. PR

Huge donation. PR

Actual donation, 0.0145% of his paper-wealth. REALITY

What is reality, except what you say it is when you control Fb?

[Hysterian68]

04:29 PM on 09/26/2010

Who cares about the PR element here. $100,000,000 for education is intrinsically good.

[simplify]

08:54 AM on 09/26/2010

Why do so many people take the positive to paint negative thoughts with?.

[Redemption Song]

08:16 AM on 09/26/2010

Giving $100 million to Newark for public education is excellent.

[WhatDaBleep]

09:12 AM on 09/26/2010

And just think if our government put 3 trillion dollars into education instead of war what our country would be like.

[Redemption Song]

09:43 AM on 09/26/2010

It won't happen in our lifetimes...if ever. This is essentially a militaristic (and extremely violent) society which, iinterestingly, goes hand in hand with capitalism: there's simply too much money to be made (by a select few) from war.

[bogey1]

01:54 PM on 09/26/2010

a formally educated electorate is something politicians, especially tea baggers fear very much