Remember the "fight" between Facebook founder Zuckerberg and Tesla founder Elon Musk? In June 2023, these two American high-tech tycoons will "pinch off" in the octagonal cage, which has attracted widespread attention, and is known as the "appointment" with the highest gold content in the history of the technology industry - the total net worth of the two is as high as 340 billion US dollars (about 2 trillion yuan).
Later, Musk's mother persuaded her son to cancel the game. "Don't joke, just fight with words, don't use force, sit on chairs, 1 meter apart, whoever is the funniest wins. And so the fight came to an end.
Zuckerberg (center) trains with reigning UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski (right).
However, Zuckerberg was not addicted to martial arts and entered the martial arts circle.
On February 19, 2024, Zuckerberg was invited to the UFC scene as a teammate of the protagonist of the match, defending champion Alexander Volkanovski, and entered the "teammate corner", causing quite a stir in the audience.
In the UFC circle, Volkanovs is known as the "Emperor" with his strong strength.
Although not playing, Zuckerberg showed a sense of excitement to try it out.
Octagonal cage. The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is the world's premier and largest professional mixed martial arts tournament, held more than 20 times a year. The tournament ring is the iconic octagonal cage, and the contracted fighters have undergone systematic and scientific training, and have the ability to comprehensively use various fighting techniques.
At that time, Zuckerberg's performance at the scene quickly attracted the attention of netizens: every time he wanted to take Volkanovsky's clothes or shoes, he was preempted by his teammates on the side, and Zuckerberg took them three times in a row. Because he was too embarrassed, Zuckerberg seemed overwhelmed, so he had to keep nodding along with the scene.
The youthful performance of the top rich man has turned the American public into full ridicule mode: "It looks like a good student is trying to blend in with the bad boys." "It's so embarrassing, and I deliberately shook my head with the scene. "What a shy boy. ”
Zuckerberg was out of place at the UFC scene and was left to dry.
One fan commented: "Zuckerberg looked awkward, like a good student trying to mingle with a bunch of bad kids. Soon, "I don't know how to put my hands" became an Internet meme, and within a few days, various versions were spawned and went viral on the Internet in the United States.
"I don't know how to put my hands".
This left Zuckerberg a little discouraged. You know, he spent a lot of time, spent a lot of money to hire coaches, and received systematic and rigorous training, before he was gradually recognized by people in the UFC circle.
In 2022, Zuckerberg began training MMA. The so-called MMA training is a systematic training to prepare for the future UFC events, which generally adopts a simulated combat cycle training mode to achieve a balance of strength, speed and explosiveness.
Zuckerberg, who has withstood the rigors of training, is not without talent. In May 2023, Zuckerberg competed in his first Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament and won gold and silver medals in both categories. Encouraged by this, Zuckerberg became more courageous and decided to compete in the more dangerous UFC events. You must know that in the UFC arena, it is common for players from both sides to fight with blood on their faces.
After increasing the intensity of training, Zuckerberg's body gradually became overwhelmed. In November 2023, Zuckerberg was injured in mixed martial arts training and had to undergo surgery after an examination revealed a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Fortunately, he recovered quickly.
"Rampage" Asia
It's a little embarrassing to tan your muscles in the UFC arena, but what Zuckerberg really wants to tan may not be muscles, but abundant energy. After all, his real arena is still in the mall.
For the sake of performance, Zuckerberg recently "went on a rampage" in Asia.
On Feb. 27, Zuckerberg dined at a McDonald's in Tokyo.
On February 27, Zuckerberg appeared on the streets of Tokyo with his wife. He dined at McDonald's and was full of praise: "If I give it out of 10, I give it 10." They should be given a Michelin star. Later, he went to an old shop that custom-made Japanese knives, forged a Japanese sword under the guidance of the master, and had a good time.
Zuckerberg forging Japanese swords.
On February 28, Zuckerberg met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. After the meeting, he told Japan**: "I had a full and constructive conversation with the Prime Minister about AI and future technology. Japan** said the talks between the two had yielded "substantial results."
On February 27, after meeting with Fumio Kishida, Zuckerberg was interviewed by Japan**.
However, Zuckerberg did not meet with Japanese entrepreneurs during his trip. Some say that Japan lacks decent IT companies to connect with Zuckerberg. Japanese netizens commented: "No one in Kishida's cabinet understands information technology. ”
Zuckerberg (center) poses with LG executives in Seoul, South Korea, on February 28.
Subsequently, Zuckerberg flew to Seoul, the capital of South Korea, to meet with Yoon Suk-yeol, South Korea's **, and then met with LG Group and Samsung Group executives, and exchanged views with the two companies on plans to strengthen cooperation in AI technology and extended reality.
The so-called extended reality is to combine the real and virtual worlds through computers to create a virtual environment for human-computer interaction, integrate visual interaction technology, and bring the "immersion" of seamless conversion between the virtual world and the real world for the experiencer, which has huge application prospects in education, entertainment, business and other fields.
Founded in 1947, LG Group operates in the fields of electrical and electronics, communications and services. Samsung Group is one of the few manufacturers in the world that can produce high-bandwidth memory chips, which are often used in the production of AI devices.
Meta metaverse headsets.
Obviously, Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, has a much stronger purpose in Seoul than in Tokyo - to seize the AI headset market and build a strong software and hardware manufacturing ecosystem. By forging partnerships with AI and XR, a key area for future technologies, Meta hopes to position itself at the forefront of global digital technologies.
Zhao Zhengyuan, Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo and associate professor at the School of Humanities at Southeast University, told Global People reporters: "Compared with China and the United States, Japan and South Korea have been silent in the field of AI in recent years, and only have leading applications in some specific industries. Now, both countries are also aware of this and have introduced a number of policies to encourage the development of AI. Zuckerberg's trip to Japan and South Korea was valued by both countries and received a high-level reception. However, there are still many difficulties in making the cooperation truly landing. ”
Zuckerberg is also going to India for a few days to attend the wedding of the son of India's richest man. On March 1-3, India's elite and global celebrities gathered in Jamnagar, Gujarat, for Anant Ambani's pre-wedding celebrations.
This wealthy marriage has attracted much attention from all walks of life. The groom, Anant, is the youngest son of Mukesh Ambani, chairman of India's Reliance Industries, and the bride is the daughter of Indian pharmaceutical giant Viren Mechant. The pre-wedding ceremony was chosen to take place in Gujarat because it is the hometown and political birthplace of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
With such a high-intensity itinerary, it cannot be said that Zuckerberg is also quite hard.
Long-term "fighting".
In the fiercely competitive Silicon Valley, Zuckerberg has been in "fighting mode" for a long time.
He was born in 1984 in White Plains, New York, to a Jewish family. His father, who ran a dentist's office, taught him computer programming when he was in elementary school and hired software experts as tutors. In high school, Zuckerberg developed a program that allowed his father to communicate with the clinic at home. This program is actually the predecessor of real-time office software.
In 2004, Zuckerberg, who was studying at Harvard University, spent a week with his roommate to set up a social Facebook page, and then quickly dropped out of Silicon Valley to start a business.
After Facebook became popular, the grievances between Zuckerberg and his partners have been the subject of film and television works and best-selling books for a long time.
In 2018, Zuckerberg encountered another big hurdle: Facebook's massive user information was leaked, and the stock price plummeted. Since then, he has also become a regular at relevant state hearings.
After Facebook changed its name to Meta, it continued to face complaints from consumer protection agencies in Europe, alleging that it was collecting consumer data without permission.
Zuckerberg changed the name of Facebook to Meta in order to engage in the metaverse, and he invested heavily in it. But Meta's stock price once **, making investors tremble.
Fortunately, in February this year, Meta released its unaudited financial report for the fourth quarter of 2023, and its revenue increased by 25% from the same period last year, which was higher than market expectations. This is the largest revenue increase Meta has achieved in the past three years.
Zuckerberg couldn't hide his excitement and wrote a long summary, he wrote: About 3.1 billion people around the world use Meta's platform every day. "Not only have we improved efficiency, but we have also achieved great profitability. ”
Business has been on a rollercoaster coaster, and Zuckerberg seems to be enjoying it, which makes it seem like he might be "playing in a heartbeat." Some people remember that in 2016, he came to China to play a slide on the Mutianyu Great Wall, slid to the end, and grinned.
Let's go back to Zuckerberg's boxing.
* It has risen, and Zuckerberg's net worth has also risen. Meta's board of directors is a little unhappy about Zuckerberg's participation in UFC and other events. The directors felt that Zuckerberg was shirtless in the octagon, and that it was not appropriate for him to be a "ticket friend", and that "in the event of serious injury or death, the company's operations would come to a standstill."
But when is there no risk for Zuckerberg, who is fighting in Silicon Valley?