Mark Zuckerberg Opens Up On Oprah : His House, Relationship, As well as Main Donation

Mark Zuckerberg Opens Up On Oprah : His House, Relationship, As well as Main Donation

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared on Oprah Winfrey’s show Fri to announce that he is giving 0 million to produce a charitable foundation, New venture:Education, that is designed to “invest in educating and improving the life of youthful people.”

Zuckerberg’s 0 million grant, in the form of Facebook shares, will go towards bettering Newark schools. Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who joined Zuckerberg on Oprah’s show together with New Jersey governor Chris Christie, will match his donation.

Even though Zuckerberg has little link with Newark–he was raised in Connecticut and now lives in California–he had written in a blog post that Newark has “unfortunately turn out to be a symbol of public education’s failure–of a status quo that accepts schools that don’t succeed.”

“I’ve had a lot of possibilities during my life, and a lot of this originates from having gone to truly good schools,” he told Oprah.

The segment offered a rare look in to Zuckerberg’s personal life: his sparsely embellished house, which he rents, the Facebook offices, as well as the CEO’s relationship with his girlfriend, Priscilla Chan.

Inside a tour of his house–the first time cameras have been permitted inside–Zuckerberg is shown learning Chinese–“Priscilla and I are going to go to China for a vacation at the end of the year,” he described–and even kissing Chan.

Given that “The Social Network” premieres tonight, many have questioned the timing of Zuckerberg’s statement. New York magazine referred to as it the “PR move of the month.”

Nonetheless, Oprah mentioned that Zuckerberg had initially considered making his gift anonymously. “You’re such a shy person and you have been talking about this for months and months and months,” she said. “You needed to stay anonymous and we talked you into coming on here.” She also informed viewers that Zuckerberg had wanted to appear on her show earlier in September, but that her season had not yet started.