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These days most of us leave the customary Facebook post on a friend's
wall for their birthday. Often accompanied by a photo to show what good
friends we are, whilst also giving a hint as to the cool, freewheeling
lives that we lead. Even the big figures in tech are no different,
with Mark Zuckerberg last Friday leaving Bill Gates a cute little birthday message. Except Zuck tagged Bill in a post
on his own wall... faux pas dude!
Still, a nice gesture from Zuck on Gates' 61st birthday.
The two have been buddies for a while now, and it's perhaps natural for
two of the real big dogs of tech to hang out. It's not only Zuckerberg
that professes their friendship, with Gates recently mentioning it at an
interview with Robert Perkins after
a speech at Caltech. When asked if he realised that the next version of
himself could have been in the audience, Gates quipped:
'Well, there is an irony that I went back to Harvard and gave a speech
and Mark Zuckerberg was in the audience [laughs]. Now, I don't claim it
had an influence on him, and he and I are good friends, but it was kind
of a funny thing.' Zuckerberg has acknowledged that Bill Gates did of
course have an influence on him, calling him his 'hero' a few years back.
Both have mixed business with pleasure over the years, with Microsoft investing $240 million in Facebook
back in 2007. Facebook has also used Bing Maps and released apps on
Windows. However, it hasn't been a complete love-in over time, with
Facebook dropping Bing search, and buying failed Microsoft ad platform
aQuantive before making Microsoft develop it for Windows phones anyway.
Regardless, Zuckerberg and Gates generally share a mutual admiration.
The pair also both share a passion for philanthropy, with Zuckerberg
and his wife Priscilla Chan establishing the Zuckerberg Chan Initiative
in 2009 to create long-term investment schemes for education, renewable
energy, environmental conservation, scientific research and healthcare,
with Zuckerberg pledging that the couple would donate 99% of their Facebook shares to the initiative over time. Gates, of course, runs the longstanding Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,
the largest private foundation in the world, to similar ends. This kind
of philanthropic devotion sets a laudable example, and it would be
great if more billionaires follow suit with some of their voluminous
spare change.
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