Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg once joked that his parents were more proud of his Harvard University acceptance than anything he's done since, despite founding one of the world's most influential tech companies.
What Happened: "I'm honored to be with you today because, let's face it, you accomplished something I never could," Zuckerberg said in his 2017 Harvard commencement speech.
"If I get through this speech, it'll be the first time I actually finish something at Harvard," he told the graduating class.
He went on to recount the moment he got his acceptance email. "I was playing Civilization and I ran downstairs, got my dad and for some reason, his reaction was to video me opening the email. That could have been a really sad video," he said.
"I swear, getting into Harvard is still the thing my parents are most proud of me for." Pointing to the audience, he added, "My mom is nodding."
Zuckerberg also shared an anecdote from his college days to highlight the value of kindness. Recalling his first lecture — Computer Science 121 with Professor Harry Lewis, but noted that no one approached him, except for one fellow student, Kang-Xing Jin.
“I was running late for class, so I threw on a T-shirt and I didn’t realize until afterwards that I put it on inside out and backwards. And my tag was sticking out the front,” Zuckerberg said, adding, “I couldn’t figure out why no one in class would talk to me.”
Zuckerberg and Jin ended up tackling problem sets together. The latter later became a major part of Facebook.
Zuckerberg, who famously dropped out of Harvard to launch Facebook, received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree during the ceremony.
Subscribe to the Benzinga Tech Trends newsletter to get all the latest tech developments delivered to your inbox.
Why It’s Important: Facebook began in a Harvard dorm in 2004 as "TheFacebook," initially intended as a private network for college students.
Zuckerberg, along with college roommates, built what would become a global social networking giant. Peter Thiel's early $500,001 investment for a 10.2% stake gave the company its first real backing.
Within a few years, Facebook dropped "The," expanded globally, and began rolling out features like News Feed and mobile apps.
Fast forward to 2025, Zuckerberg—now worth approximately $258 billion—is leading Meta (Facebook rebranded as Meta in 2021), which currently commands a market cap of $1.84 trillion.
Meta's latest frontier is artificial general intelligence (AGI). In June 2025, it launched Meta Superintelligence Labs, consolidating its Llama models and FAIR (Fundamental AI Research) division to pursue "personal superintelligence."
MSL has been aggressively hiring top talent from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind and Apple Inc.
Meta currently has an average price target of $734.93, based on estimates from 43 analysts. The three most recent updates — from TD Cowen, Roth Capital and Wells Fargo — set an average target of $774.33, implying a potential upside of 5.63%.
Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings show that META maintains a strong upward trend across the short, medium and long term. Although its growth score is high, its value rating is comparatively lower. You can find more detailed performance data here.
Check out more of Benzinga's Consumer Tech coverage by following this link.
Photo Courtesy: Frederic Legrand – COMEO on Shutterstock.com
Read Next:
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
