Mark Pincus
Pincus has earned extraordinary success through Facebook, both as an investor and an entrepreneur. He's co-founder of social gaming company Zygna, whose titles such as Farmville and Mafia Wars have leveraged the Facebook platform to great effect. The company went public in 2011.
Prior to Zygna, Pincus created one of the earliest social networks, Tribe.net. His startups also include Freeloader and Support.com. He has also worked as a financial analyst at Lazard Freres and serves as a vice president at Columbia Capital.
Born: Feb. 13, 1966, Chicago
Lives: San Francisco area, CA
Education: University of Pennsylvania, B.S.; Harvard Business School, MBA
Relationship to Facebook
Pincus was an angel investor in Facebook, matching Reid Hoffman's $40,000 investment at the time Peter Thiel made his initial investment. Holding 5.3 million shares, Pincus is looking at a $186 million payday come IPO time. How many "farm coins" is that?
Career Profile
Current Occupation: Co-founder, Chief Executive Officer, Zynga
Former Companies: Tribe.net, Freeloader