How Eduardo built the fortune
Eduardo Saverin was one of the five co-founders of Facebook, the social network started in a Harvard dormitory in February 2004. Mark Zuckerberg wrote the original code, while Saverin acted as the business side of the project: he put up much of the early money for servers and expenses, served as chief financial officer and business manager, and tried to sell advertising. In exchange he received a substantial share of the new company.
The relationship broke down within the first year. Zuckerberg and other early team members moved to California, where the company raised venture capital, while Saverin stayed on the East Coast. In 2005 his stake was heavily diluted through a restructuring, and he sued. The case was settled out of court, and although the terms were not published, Saverin kept a significant shareholding and was recognized as a co-founder. When Facebook went public in May 2012, those shares made him very wealthy.
Since then his fortune has moved with the share price of Facebook, renamed Meta Platforms in 2021. Saverin has sold part of his holdings over the years, but Meta stock remains an important component of his wealth. He has also invested a large amount in private technology companies, both directly and through the venture capital firm he co-founded.
The early disagreement between the founders reflected a basic difference in vision. Saverin favoured making money quickly from advertising, while Zuckerberg wanted to concentrate on growth and to raise outside capital in Silicon Valley. Peter Thiel's 2004 investment and the subsequent move to Palo Alto set the company on the second path.
Companies and holdings
Saverin's main assets are:
- Shares in Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
- B Capital, a venture capital firm he co-founded in 2015 with Raj Ganguly, which invests in technology companies in the United States and Asia and has worked in partnership with the Boston Consulting Group.
- Personal investments in startups, many of them in Southeast Asia, made since he moved to Singapore.
B Capital has raised several funds and focuses on business software, financial technology, healthcare technology and climate related companies. Saverin is involved in the firm's investment decisions while the day to day management is shared with other partners.
Singapore has served as his base for these activities for more than a decade. He has backed companies in areas such as online payments, logistics, consumer apps and identity verification, often participating in early funding rounds. Some of these investments were made individually before B Capital existed, and they gave him a network across the region's technology scene that the firm later built on.
Early life and career
Saverin was born in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1982, into a wealthy family with business interests in clothing, shipping and real estate. The family moved to Miami in 1993, and he grew up there before going to Harvard University. As a student he was known for his interest in economics and investing, and he reportedly made a profit trading oil futures by anticipating the effect of hurricanes on energy prices.
At Harvard he was a member of the Phoenix S K Club and president of the university's investment association. He graduated in 2006 with a degree in economics, two years after co-founding Facebook. His role in the company's early history was dramatized in the 2010 film The Social Network, in which he was played by Andrew Garfield. In 2009 he moved to Singapore, and in 2011 he gave up his United States citizenship, a decision that drew criticism from American politicians who argued it was meant to reduce taxes, a claim he disputed.
Philanthropy and public life
Saverin keeps a relatively low public profile and rarely speaks about Facebook's early days. He gives occasional interviews about venture capital and technology in Asia, and he has spoken at business conferences in Singapore and elsewhere in the region.
His philanthropic activity is not widely documented. He has supported some education and entrepreneurship initiatives, but he has not made a large public giving pledge of the kind associated with several other Facebook founders and early employees. His public identity remains closely tied to his part in Facebook's creation and to his work as an investor in the Asia Pacific region.