Mark Zuckerberg birthday: Facebook CEO turns 28 days before IPO

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

/ James Martin/CNET

(CNET) It's a good week to be Mark Zuckerberg.

The Facebook co-founder's one-time dorm room project is set to go public, to make history in the IPO record books, and to create a whole lot of instant wealth. And today the social network's chief executive officer turns 28, an event that presumably will be marked with a flurry of birthday messages on his Facebook page.

What does one get the birthday boy who has everything? Zuckerberg himself, after all, is already among the upper sliver of the 1 percent, with Forbes putting him at No. 35 on its list of the top 400 richest Americans. The IPO alone could catapult him higher up that list, with his stake poised to reach as much as $18.7 billion, give or take a few hundred million, which, in Zuck's case, really is quite insignificant.

That's birthday present enough if ever there was. Besides, Zuckerberg clearly is not a man with a hankering for material goods. But go with this for a moment: what would make for a fitting present to celebrate?

Betabrand

After pondering that head-scratcher, we're going to take our cue from last week's announcement of the executive pinstripe hoodie. It's only $148 and who knows - maybe it will help to make a better impression the next time

Why I'm thrilled Mark Zuckerberg is annoying the bankers

forced to present himself to Wall Street.

Any other suggestions?

This article first appeared at CNET with the headline "Happy b-day, Zuck: What do you give a guy who could buy Europe?"

22 Photos

Facebook through the years

[hypnotoad72]

Many people turn 28.

So what?

Is he our new lord and master, because he found a way to get people to freely give up their IP when they sign the terms of service agreement, hone tracking tactics to aim specific marketing ads at people, and put in lame opt-in security changes because most people are just as lazy to change those as they are giving up their own data for someone else to profit on? (he may be rich but he sure ain't ethical, and civilized societies put more value on ethics...)