Saturday, September 24, 2022

Bill Gates says political polarization 'may bring it all to an end' and could even lead to a civil war

bill gates
  • Bill Gates is sounding the alarm on political polarization in the US.
  • "Political polarization may bring it all to an end, we're going to have a hung election and a civil war," he told Forbes recently.
  • Gates, who has been the target of many conspiracy theories over the years, also pointed out the dangers of misinformation.

Bill Gates usually focuses on issues like poverty and infectious diseases through his charitable foundation, but another problem on his mind is the polarization of US politics.

"I admit that political polarization may bring it all to an end, we're going to have a hung election and a civil war," he recently said in the keynote conversation at this year's Forbes 400 Summit on Philanthropy. "I have no expertise in that. I'm not going to divert my money to that because I wouldn't know how to spend it."

Political polarization, he says, goes hand-in-hand with another issue: the spread of misinformation.

"The polarization and lack of trust is a problem," he continued to Forbes. "One of the best-selling books last year was a book by Robert Kennedy, saying that I like to make money and kill millions of people with vaccines. It's wild that sells well."

Over the years, Gates and ex-wife Melinda French Gates have donated billions to vaccine research, development, and delivery through their foundation. Gates has been the subject of conspiracy theories that claim he puts microchips in vaccines to track people. Earlier this month, Gates said people have yelled such accusations at him on the street.

"People seek simple solutions [and] the truth is kind of boring sometimes. Anybody who's got good innovations on reducing polarization, getting the truth to be as interesting as the crazy stuff, that would be well worth investing in," Gates told Forbes.

Gates' summer reading list for this year, which he announced in June, includes "Why We're Polarized" by Ezra Klein.

"I'm generally optimistic about the future, but one thing that dampens my outlook a bit is the increasing polarization in America, especially when it comes to politics," Gates wrote at the time in a blog post about his book picks.

Also during the Forbes keynote conversation, Gates said he and his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, hope to keep their charitable foundation running for 25 more years to focus on tackling infectious diseases.

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Bill Gates says he and his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, plan to run foundation together for 25 more years

Bill Gates
  • Bill Gates and ex-wife Melinda French Gates hope to keep their foundation running for 25 more years, at which point he'll be 91 and French Gates will be 83.
  • "We think spending all the money in that time frame makes sense," Gates told Forbes.
  • He says they'll be focused on infectious diseases with the aim to "bring those largely to an end."

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been around for 25 years, and Bill Gates says that's just its halfway mark.

Gates and Melinda French Gates established the philanthropic organization in 2000. They were married at the time but have since divorced.

"The goal for the foundation is to run for another 25 years," Gates said in the keynote conversation at this year's Forbes 400 Summit on Philanthropy. "That's probably the period of time where Melinda and I will be around to help make sure it stays on track."

In 25 years, Gates will be 91 years old, and French Gates will be 83. Alongside Warren Buffett, Gates and French Gates in 2010 created the Giving Pledge, which asks billionaires to publicly commit to give most of their wealth away to philanthropic efforts either during their lifetimes or in their wills.

"We think spending all the money in that timeframe makes sense," Gates continued to Forbes. "So we'll be shifting money over more and more, we committed to raise the spend level up."

In that time, they will "try and bring infectious disease, or all of the diseases that make the world inequitable, to bring those largely to an end, either through eradication or getting them down to very low levels," Gates said.

Earlier this week, the foundation announced a commitment of $912 million to the Global Fund to help tackle AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.

Gates predicted a pandemic was coming for years before COVID-19 struck, saying in a 2015 Ted Talk that the world was "not ready for the next epidemic." Earlier this year, he called for a global task force to monitor for future pandemics, and in May, he released a book called "How to Prevent the Next Pandemic."

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Michigan GOP gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon mocks 2020 kidnapping plot against Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

Tudor Dixon
Michigan Republican gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon.
  • Michigan GOP gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon mocked the kidnapping plot against Gov. Whitmer.
  • "Gretchen Whitmer sure is good at taking business hostage and holding it for ransom," Dixon said.
  • Two men were convicted in the plot, in which they sought to kidnap Whitmer from her vacation home.

Michigan Republican gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon on Friday mocked the kidnapping plot against Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, her opponent in the November general election.

During two campaign events, Dixon made light of the high-profile 2020 domestic terrorism plot, which was widely seen as a harbinger of the increased threat of political violence in the United States.

Two men have been convicted in the plot, in which they sought to kidnap the governor from her vacation home. Prosecutors said that the men had eyed destroying a bridge in order to cripple the governor's security detail and any responding police officers.

"The sad thing is Gretchen will tie your hands, put a gun to your head, and ask if you are ready to talk. For someone so worried about getting kidnapped, Gretchen Whitmer sure is good at taking business hostage and holding it for ransom," Dixon said at a campaign appearance in Troy, Mich., a suburb of Detroit.

Her comments elicited an audible applause from many of the attendees.

At a rally in Muskegon, a city in western Michigan, Dixon poked at an appearance that Whitmer made with President Joe Biden, who recently visited state and toured the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Once again, Dixon referenced the 2020 kidnapping plot to lob an attack at her opponent.

"The look on her face was like, 'Oh, my gosh, this is happening. I'd rather be kidnapped by the FBI,'" she said at the event.

Dixon then stated that her previous comments were not a joke.

"If you were afraid of that, you should know what it is to have your life ripped away from you," the Republican candidate said.

Per CNN, she later said: "I think when you're being attacked everyday, you have to have a little levity in things — we can still have fun."

Democrats immediately criticized Dixon over her comments.

Maeve Coyle, a spokeswoman for Whitmer's campaign, said in a statement that the governor "has faced serious threats to her safety and her life" and said that Dixon's statements made her "unfit" to become a public servant.

"Threats of violence — whether to Governor Whitmer or to candidates and elected officials on the other side of the aisle — are no laughing matter, and the fact that Tudor Dixon thinks it's a joke shows that she is absolutely unfit to serve in public office," she said.

Insider contacted Dixon's campaign office for comment, but didn't immediately receive a reply Saturday. 

Democratic Governors Association spokesman Sam Newton blasted Dixon's statements as "dangerous."

"Tudor Dixon's comments are dangerous, an insult to law enforcement who keep us safe, and utterly disqualifying for the role of Michigan governor," he said.

Whitmer, who was easily elected governor in 2018, has since been widely criticized by conservatives for enacting a range of COVID-19 restrictions, with the Republican-controlled state legislature suing her over her extensions of emergency powers during the pandemic.

However, as the 2022 election approached, Republicans fumbled in their gubernatorial nomination process, as several candidates — including onetime frontrunner James Craig — were removed from the ballot over forged petition signatures.

Dixon won the August GOP primary after receiving a late endorsement from former President Donald Trump, but she is currently trailing Whitmer in most public polling.

In a newly-released EPIC-MRA poll, Whitmer led Dixon by 16-percentage points (55%-39%).

Trump is set to appear alongside Dixon at an Oct. 1 rally in Macomb County, a populous suburban jurisdiction outside Detroit.

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Donald Trump is worth billions — here's how the former president has spent his cash

Donald Trump was the 45th president of the United States.
Donald Trump was the 45th president of the United States.
  • Donald Trump was the first billionaire to enter the White House when he became the 45th President.
  • Forbes estimates he is worth $3 billion, with a property empire including Mar-a-Lago in Florida. 
  • Other assets he controls include hotels, office buildings, and golf courses. 

Donald Trump went from real-estate magnate to reality-TV star to being elected the 45th president of the United States.

Worth $3 billion, according to a Forbes tally of all the assets Trump owns, he is the first billionaire to enter the White House.  

Trump's fortune mainly stems from his property-and-hospitality businesses.

On Wednesday New York's attorney general filed a sweeping civil suit against Trump, his business, and his three eldest children. Letitia James said Trump "falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars" and "repeatedly and persistently manipulated the value of assets to induce banks to lend money to the Trump Organization."

Here's what Trump's portfolio of golf courses, luxury cars, hotels, yachts, a vineyard, and aircraft looks like.

Katie Canales and Katie Warren contributed reporting to a previous version of this article.

Donald Trump, 76, is worth an estimated $3 billion, according to Forbes, after falling by $1 billion during the pandemic. His holdings include several golf courses, hotels, luxury cars, yachts, a vineyard, planes, and helicopters.
trump tower

The former president's fortune peaked in 2016, when he was worth an estimated $4.5 billion.

His wealth is centered around his commercial-real-estate holdings, which were worth an estimated $1.9 billion before the COVID-19 pandemic and after deducting debt, per Forbes.

While running for the presidency, Trump spent $66 million of his own money to help fund his campaign, according to campaign-finance disclosures examined by Reuters.
Trump Meadows
Trump was the first billionaire to become a US president and donated his annual salary of $400,000.
Donald Trump
Trump's New York City properties account for more than $1 billion of his net worth, per Forbes.
Trump Tower from a low angle.
Revenue sources include licensing, branding, golf resorts, and the Central Park ice-skating rink.
central park ice rink

Source: Business Insider

The Trump Tower penthouse was the 45th president's main residence before moving to Washington, DC. It is valued at $50 million, according to Forbes.
trump tower

Source: Forbes

 

Trump companies own at least 14 properties in New York City, including, from left to right, Trump World Tower and Trump Tower. Forbes estimated his NYC portfolio to be worth $960 million.
A collage of both Trump World Tower and Trump Tower.

Source: The Trump Organization, Forbes

Trump owns properties in Palm Beach, Florida, including Trump Grande, Trump Tower Sunny Isles, and Trump Hollywood, according to the Trump Organization's website. They are worth an estimated $25 million, according to Forbes.
donald trump palm beach home

Source: Forbes

Forbes estimated that Trump Organization-owned Mar-a-Lago was worth $350 million. The President has used the private-members' club as his main residence since leaving the White House.
Aerial shot of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida.

Sources: Business Insider, Forbes

Trump also owns an estate on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin called Le Château des Palmiers. It's on the market for $15.5 million.
st. Martin

Sources: Business Insider, Sotheby's

The former president also owns residential properties in New Jersey, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, and Nevada, as well as Europe, Asia, and South America.
Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago.

Source: The Trump Organization

Trump's assets also include hotels in Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, Virginia, and New York, as well as Ireland and Scotland.
Trump's Doonbeg property in Ireland.

Source: The Trump Organization

Trump owns 19 golf courses and played golf almost 300 times during his presidency, according to the website Trump Golf Count.
Trump LIV Golf

Source: Trump Golf Count, GAO

Aside from his real-estate portfolio, Trump has a penchant for aircraft and luxury cars. He owns five aircraft and a variety of cars, from a Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud to a Mercedes-Benz 3600, according to The Washington Post.
Trump's Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud.
Trump's Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud.

Source: The Washington Post

Trump also bought his wife Melania Trump a $455,000 SLR McLaren, the Washington Post reported.
slr mclaren

Source: The Washington Post

Trump bought his Boeing 727 — nicknamed "Trump Force One" during his 2016 election campaign — from billionaire Paul Allen in 2010 for $100 million. The aircraft costs thousands of dollars an hour to fly, per The New York Times.
Trump's personal 757 airplane.

Source: New York Times

Trump also has a Sikorsky S-76 helicopter that costs between $5 million and $7 million.
Trump Helicopter

Source: Wired

In 2013, Trump spent $60,000 to buy a portrait of himself by the artist William Quigley. In 2019, Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, accused him of paying for it with money from the Donald J. Trump Foundation charity.
Donald Trump; Michael Cohen.

Sources: Haute Living, The Art Newspaper

Trump owns a copy of "GOAT," a book about the boxer Muhammed Ali, that is worth an estimated $15,000. Just 1,000 copies were printed, with each one signed by Ali.
Muhammad Ali defeated Sonny Liston in 1965.

Sources: Daily Mail, Maxim

In 2017 Trump spent $70,000 on hairstylists, according to The New York Times — expenses he claimed as a tax deduction.
donald trump hair

Sources: New York Times

Trump's suits are mostly made by the Italian label Brioni, a spokesperson told The New York Times, and cost between $6,000 and $17,000.
Trump

Sources: New York Times, Insider

Another expense for Trump is sending his son Barron to the Oxbridge Academy, a private school in Palm Beach close to Mar-a-Lago that charges $35,000 a year for tuition.
melania trump na

Sources: The Palm Beach Post, Oxbridge Academy

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Friday, September 23, 2022

GOP unveils 'Commitment to America' platform, passing off stock footage of Russia and Ukraine as the US and a Lehman Brothers ad as a quote by Lincoln

WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 12: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) talks to reporters after attending the swearing-in of Rep. Brad Finstad (R-MN) at the U.S. Capitol on August 12, 2022 in Washington, DC. Finstad won a special election in Minnesota to replace former Rep. Jim Hagedorn (R-MN) who died in January of COVID-19. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) talks to reporters after attending the swearing-in of Rep. Brad Finstad (R-MN) at the U.S. Capitol on August 12, 2022 in Washington, DC.

After a year of workshopping, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy unveiled the GOP's 2023 "Commitment to America" platform — featuring stock footage of Ukraine and Russia used to demonstrate the beauty of the United States and a fake Abraham Lincoln quote used in a letter to members of Congress. 

In a promotional video released yesterday titled "The Preamble to the Commitment to America," a narrator exhalts America's exceptionalism, blames Democrats for leading the country "off track," and announces the 2023 party platform priorities: an economy that's strong, a nation that's safe, a future built on freedom, and a government that's accountable.

The intentionally vague platform seeks to unite the GOP ahead of a tense election season marked by internal conflict and anticipated rifts between moderate Republicans and election-denying allies of Donald Trump, The Washington Post reported.  

Several clips in the video meant to portray the diversity and "vibrancy" of America — including scenes of a woman shopping in a supermarket, a child running through a field, and a farmer carrying a bag of wheat — were actually stock footage filmed in Russia and Ukraine, HuffPost first reported

Several images were created by Serg Grbanoff, a filmmaker based in Russia, HuffPost reported, who confirmed to the outlet the images were created in the Volgograd region of his home country. Another image was created by a Shutterstock contributor, DedovStock, who posts shots he takes in Ukraine.

"Interesting how you guys aren't remotely interested on the issues facing the American people in the video," McCarthy spokesman Mark Bednar told HuffPost when asked about the stock footage.

The stock footage wasn't the only issue to arise with the rollout of the platform. In a letter to House members announcing its priorities — tweeted by Politico reporter Olivia Beavers — McCarthy signs his name to letterhead featuring a quote falsely attributed to Lincoln. 

"Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality," the letter reads, attributing the quote to the nation's 16th president.

Christian McWhirter, a historian at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, told The Daily Beast he could find "no reliable evidence" that Lincoln ever uttered those words.

"They do not appear in his writings and I cannot find them recollected by any of his contemporaries," McWhirter told The Daily Beast.

The phrase, attributed online to Lincoln, Shearson Lehman, and anonymous sources depending on the reference point, was printed in a 1986 full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal paid for by investment banking firm Lehman Brothers to thank its long-term employees.

"Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality," the ad reads, The Daily Beast reported. "It is the words that speak boldly of your intentions. And the actions which speak louder than words. It is making the time when there is none. Coming through time after time after time, year after year after year."

Representatives for Rep. McCarthy did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

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The mRNA vaccine transformed Pfizer. Here's how the biopharma giant plans to retain its new 'light-speed mentality' and create drugs faster.

A woman picks up a Pfizer mRNA COVID-19 vaccine dose
Pfizer, along with BioNTech, used breakthrough mRNA technology to create its COVID-19 vaccine. The potential of this new tech could transform science, leaders at the company said.
  • Annaliesa Anderson, a leader in vaccine research, shared how the pandemic changed Pfizer.
  • Anderson said employees embraced a "light-speed mentality" of doing things faster and simpler.
  • The company will apply mRNA tech to other areas and use new ways of thinking to solve problems.
  • This article is part of a series called "Culture of Innovation" exploring how companies are setting the stage for innovation, transformation, and growth.

The world isn't the same place it was three years ago, and neither is Pfizer. 

The biopharmaceutical giant, along with its partner BioNTech, was one of the first to develop a marketable vaccine for COVID-19 using nascent mRNA technology. It was one of the fastest developments of a vaccine for modern medicine, forcing execs to ask what's next for a company that had shown it could compress the drug-creation process. 

Pfizer, which has said it expects to pull in $32 billion in sales from its COVID vaccine this year, knows that it's set a high standard for innovation, collaboration, and R&D. COVID-19 forced a "paradigm shift" within the company, where execs and employees alike had to think and act differently, according to Pfizer's Uwe Schoenbeck, chief scientific officer of external research, development, and innovation. 

"Pfizer's pandemic response focused on external partnership, reduction of bureaucracy, and a purpose-driven culture," Schoenbeck told Insider. "It taught us that what seems impossible at one point in time can be achieved, but also that it requires us to do things differently."

For Pfizer, priorities for the future include using mRNA technology to develop vaccines for other diseases like respiratory syncytial virus, known as RSV, the flu, as well as better treatments for cancer. 

The mRNA, or messenger RNA, technology instructs cells to generate a protein that can then trigger an immune response. This type of technology, along with others, can speed up the drug-discovery process. 

Below is a conversation with Annaliesa Anderson, Pfizer's senior vice president of vaccines research and development. 

These interviews have been lightly edited for length and clarity. 

Pfizer logo
Employees and execs alike at the biotech giant adopted a "light-speed mentality" which focuses on coming up with solutions more quickly and in a more direct manner, without compromising safety.

How did the pandemic change Pfizer as a company? What old ways went out the window because of COVID-19 and what new strategies or new ways of thinking did you adopt? 

We began communicating much more quickly — not waiting three days for an appointment to meet with someone. 

We also changed our processes. You're no longer setting a strategy and then sitting back and watching that strategy unfold. You're looking at that strategy and reassessing it as you get new data. We asked ourselves "Does something need to be done in the way that we have done it before? Or can we look at things in a different way?" 

A big piece of this was the fact that it was a technology that was unproven, mRNA. So we took, I wouldn't say "a risk." I would say "an opportunity" to really validate that technology. 

What's a top priority at Pfizer in terms of innovation?

We now have the proof of concept for mRNA. So that's very exciting. mRNA technology has tremendous potential for other disease areas such as oncology and rare diseases. And so now the question is, "how can we now kind of move this technology into those areas?" 

The flu is another area that we're working on. We've just started our phase-three study of a quadrant flu vaccine made out of mRNA. We see it has several advantages over current flu vaccines, including higher efficacy.

There is rapid change happening in medicine and science. What are you most excited about? 

Our work on an RSV vaccine for older adults is a great story of partnership and innovation. People have been looking to develop RSV vaccines for over six decades. We've been able to show, in early studies, that our vaccine was highly effective at preventing RSV. 

We've deployed what we call a "light-speed mentality." Would we have done it so quickly back in the day? No, we wouldn't. Hopefully, the next step is to submit it to the agencies for licensure, and then hopefully be able to have a vaccine that can prevent a really severe disease that has a high burden on healthcare and hospitals. 

You mentioned a 'light-speed mentality.' Can you explain that? 

Light-speed mentality is thinking through what's the best way to achieve what we need to achieve in a more straightforward route than we might have normally done it. 

It's about how you can move a vaccine forward with urgency, without compromising safety. 

little girl smiling while her arm is swabbed in prep for covid vaccine
A Pfizer senior vice president said mRNA technology could transform vaccines for the flu and lead to breakthroughs in cancer treatment.

Drug companies have typically been very secretive with their intellectual property. How do you think about collaboration now? And will there be more mergers and acquisitions?

Many companies, including Pfizer, have strategies where we build from within, we partner, and we also make strategic acquisitions. I think that that will remain pretty constant. I think there's a big interest in vaccines now. We're seeing a lot of smaller companies come through and start to really build some momentum in the vaccine space. So there will continue to be interest there. 

Pfizer recently pledged to hire 500 refugees as a response to the recent Afghan and Ukrainian refugee crises. How do you expect this to enhance innovation? 

Diversity is a critical part of what we do. It's through bringing people with diverse experiences, and talents that we can make breakthrough decisions.

We're a global company and we make medicines and vaccines for the globe. We need to appreciate the views of different people, whether it's different races, genders, or from different areas of the world. We need to encompass that. 

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Inside the 19-year relationship of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, who are about to have their 3rd baby together

Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan.
  • Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been married to his wife, Priscilla Chan, since 2012.
  • The couple met during college and have since had two kids together with a third on the way.
  • They've also founded the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and amassed a real estate empire. 

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg may not have gotten an undergrad degree out of Harvard, but he has his time at the university to thank for introducing him to his wife, Priscilla Chan.

The couple met in 2003 at a frat party, and tied the knot in 2012, one day after the IPO of what was then called Facebook.

Over the past two decades, as Zuckerberg has continued to run Meta, the couple founded the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, pledged millions to philanthropy efforts, started a family, and traveled on vacations abroad, all while buying up big properties in California, Lake Tahoe, and Hawaii.

Here's everything you need to know about the couple, who have been together for nearly 20 years and have two children together — with one more on the way

Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg met in line for the bathroom at a Harvard University party in 2003. Zuckerberg's fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi, was hosting a party and Chan, a sophomore student from the Boston area, was there.
harvard university

Source: The New Yorker

"He was this nerdy guy who was just a little bit out there," Chan told The New Yorker. "I remember he had these beer glasses that said 'pound include beer dot H.' It’s a tag for C++. It’s like college humor but with a nerdy, computer-science appeal."
Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan

Source: The New Yorker

Chan said that when she first met Zuckerberg, she thought he might get kicked out of school for a prank he pulled: the hot-or-not website ranking the attractiveness of students on campus, called "Facemash," that Zuckerberg notoriously created in his sophomore year at Harvard.
Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg celebrated Facebook's fifteenth birthday with a blog post.

Source: Insider

Zuckerberg was also expecting to get kicked out of Harvard when he met Chan. The party was a farewell bash. In his 2017 commencement address at Harvard, Zuckerberg said his opening line to Chan was: "I'm going to get kicked out in three days, so we need to go on a date quickly."
mark zuckerberg harvard

Source: Vox

"Without Facemash, I wouldn't have met Priscilla," Zuckerberg said in his Harvard commencement address in 2017. "She's the most important person in my life, so you could say it was the most important thing I built in my time here."
mark zuckerberg commencement harvard
Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard's 2017 commencement.

Source: Vox

When Zuckerberg took Chan out for the first time, he told her he'd "rather go on a date with [her] than finish his take-home midterm," Chan said in an interview with the "Today Show" in 2014. "The type-A first child in me was appalled."
Priscilla Chan, Mark Zuckerberg's wife, sitting in courtroom looking into distance

Source: Today Show

Zuckerberg officially dropped out of Harvard in the fall of 2005, after his sophomore year, to focus on building Facebook. He moved out to Palo Alto, California, where Facebook opened its first office.
Mark Zuckerberg smiles while standing next to sign that says Facebook with arrow underneath

Source: Harvard Crimson

In 2007, Chan graduated from Harvard, and Zuckerberg was there to celebrate. Chan then followed him to California, and entered medical school at the University of California, San Francisco in 2008. She rented an apartment near Golden Gate Park, where Zuckerberg would visit her most weekends.
harvard students graduation
Students during a graduation ceremony at Harvard University.

Source: The New Yorker

Early on in their relationship, Chan set some strict ground rules because Zuckerberg was so busy with Facebook. Chan required one date per week, and a minimum of 100 minutes of alone time per week not at Facebook.
mark zuckerberg priscilla chan initiative
In this Sept. 20, 2016 file photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, smile as they prepare for a speech in San Francisco.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

"They walk in the park, go rowing (he insists that they go in separate boats and race), play bocce or the board game the Settlers of Catan. Sundays are reserved for Asian cuisine," the New Yorker wrote about the couple in 2010.
Mark Zuckerberg Priscilla Chan
Zuckerberg and Chan in 2016.

Source: The New Yorker

Chan was there when Zuckerberg turned down multiple buyout offers, including a $1 billion offer from Yahoo in 2006. She told the New Yorker in 2010 that during that time period, Zuckerberg was the most stressed-out that she'd ever seen him.
Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg standing on street in China
Chan and Zuckerberg in China in 2012.

Source: The New Yorker

While still a med student at UCSF, Chan moved in September 2010 to Zuckerberg's rented house in the College Terrace neighborhood of Palo Alto. He announced the news on — where else — Facebook. "Now we have 2x everything, so if you need any household appliances, dishes, glasses, etc please come by and take them before we give them away," he wrote.
819 la jennifer facebook house
The "Facebook house" in Palo Alto.

Source: The New York Times

In May 2011, Zuckerberg and Chan bought a five-bedroom home for $7 million in Palo Alto and tricked it out with a "custom-made artificially intelligent assistant." The following year, Zuckerberg bought the four homes surrounding the residence for $43 million to allow him to expand his property.
mark zuckerberg house home palo alto 4x3
Zuckerberg and Chan's home in Palo Alto's Crescent Park neighborhood.

Source: Insider

In March 2011, Chan and Zuckerberg adopted a dog, a Puli they named Beast. That same month, the couple finally made their relationship Facebook official.
Hungarian Puli
A Puli, though not Mark Zuckerberg's Beast.

Source: Today Show

In May 2012, Zuckerberg and Chan tied the knot in a surprise wedding ceremony just days after Chan graduated from med school and Zuckerberg took his company public. The couple told guests that the event was a surprise graduation party for Chan, then treated their guests to a wedding ceremony in the backyard of the couple's Palo Alto house.
Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg hold hands while walking outside and smiling at each other
Chan and Zuckerberg at the Sun Valley conference in 2013.

Source: CNN Money, Washington Post

The newlyweds — and newly minted billionaires — spent their honeymoon in Rome, Italy, but had a pretty casual vacation: they were spotted eating McDonald's for a meal while abroad.
Singapore large fries.
McDonald's fries.

Source: Insider

Not long after returning from their honeymoon, Zuckerberg purchased a townhouse in San Francisco's Dolores Heights neighborhood for $10 million. He spent an additional $1.6 million to remodel the place. He sold the home in 2022 for $31 million.
dolores park
Zuckerberg's home is near Dolores Park, in the Mission District of San Francisco.

Source: Insider, Insider

Zuckerberg and Chan made a major purchase in October 2014: two properties in Kauai, Hawaii, for more than $100 million. They've since added to the estate two more times and now own roughly 1,500 acres in Kauai.
Kauai, Hawaii
Kauai, Hawaii.

Source: Insider, Insider

Chan finished her medical residency, with a specialty in pediatrics, in June 2015. She then went on to work as a pediatrician at San Francisco General Hospital.
priscilla chan

Source: CNN Money

In July of that year, Zuckerberg announced on Facebook that Chan was pregnant. The couple had been trying for years, but Chan suffered three miscarriages along the way. "It's a lonely experience," Zuckerberg wrote. Chan gave birth to a baby girl that December and the couple named her Max — short for Maxima.
Mark Zuckerberg Priscilla Chan

Source: ABC, Insider

To celebrate the birth of their daughter, the couple also announced the launch of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The couple pledged to donate 99% of their Facebook shares through the organization. Chan left her role as a pediatrician to run the organization full-time.
chan zuckerberg initiative mark zuckerberg priscilla chan
Zuckerberg and Chan embrace during a Chan Zuckerberg Initiative event in 2016.

Source: Insider, Quartz

The couple announced in 2016 they would invest $3 billion of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's funds into research for curing the world's diseases. Their goal is to cure all diseases in the lifetime of their daughter, Max.
Priscilla Chan stands on stage in front of photo of her, Mark Zuckerberg, and their daughter Max

Source: Insider

Together, the couple have given hundreds of millions to charity. They announced in 2015 they were signing onto the Giving Pledge, a commitment made by billionaires to give away more than half of their wealth during their lifetimes or in their wills.
Mark Zuckerberg Priscilla Chan
Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan.

Source: Giving Pledge

Chan and Zuckerberg have also made efforts to support education on both coasts. The Meta CEO made a $100 million investment back in 2010 into the struggling school system in Newark, New Jersey, but the effort ultimately failed. In 2015, Chan and Zuckerberg launched their own school, called The Primary School, for students in low-income areas.
Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan stand on stage in front of CZ logo

Source: Insider

The couple also donated $75 million in 2015 to a San Francisco public hospital, which was then renamed after Zuckerberg. In 2020, the hospital's name was formally condemned by city officials, who accused the couple of tax evasion and Facebook of "endangering public health" by allowing misinformation to spread on its platform.
Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital
San Francisco General Hospital changed its name to Zuckerberg San Francisco General in 2015 after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan donated $75 million to the 147-year-old institution.

Source: Insider, Insider

Meanwhile, Zuckerberg and Chan welcomed the birth of their second daughter in August 2017, whom they named — appropriately — August. Zuckerberg took two months off work for paternity leave after August's birth.
mark zuckerberg priscilla chan

Source: Insider

Zuckerberg and Chan have also traveled the world together. Early on in their relationship, they agreed to vacation for two weeks every year overseas. They've taken trips to Dubai, Mumbai, and China, where they visit Chan's family. Zuckerberg spent years learning Mandarin from Chan.
mark zuckerberg priscilla chan china
Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan walking around Shanghai in March 2012.

Source: New York Times, NBC News

Zuckerberg and Chan took a trip in 2016 to Rome, where they met with Pope Francis at the Vatican. Zuckerberg gave the pope a miniature model of a Facebook solar-powered drone.
mark zuckerberg priscilla chan pope francis vatican

Source: Insider

Zuckerberg and Chan added to their real estate portfolio in 2018, secretly dropping $59 million to purchase two waterfront estates in Lake Tahoe. Together, the two properties have 600 feet of private waterfront access.
lake tahoe
Lake Tahoe in the winter.

Source: Insider

In December 2019, Zuckerberg and Chan offered a rare glimpse inside their home on "CBS This Morning" as they made challah bread with Max and August.
Gayle King, Priscilla Chan, Maxima Zuckerberg, August Zuckerberg, and Mark Zuckerberg

Source: Insider

Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative formed a COVID-19 task force to help increase the testing abilities of labs in the Bay Area.
coronavirus lab tests
Airport authorities check-up on passengers arriving to Moscow from Beijing and Hong Kong at Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow, Russia on February 26, 2020.

Source: Insider

The couple announced in September 2022 that they're expecting their third child together. "Happy to share that Max and August are getting a new baby sister next year!" Zuckerberg wrote on Instagram.
Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan
Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg.

Source: Insider


Paige Leskin contributed to an earlier version of this article. Additional reporting from Alyson Shontell.

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