With more than 1.5 billion users, Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) is the most popular social networking site worldwide and also one of the most rewarding technology sector stocks for investors, with a three-year average annualized return of 48% as of August 2016. The company's market capitalization is $358.8 billion — it is the fastest company in history to reach a market cap value of $250 billion, achieving that mark within just three years of its initial public offering (IPO). Facebook is a component of both the NASDAQ 100 Index and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index (S&P 500).
Facebook stock is widely held by large institutional investors, mutual funds and ETFs. The individual Facebook shareholders with the largest amount of Facebook stock are all present or former key executives at Facebook.
Sheryl Sandberg
The largest individual shareholder of Facebook stock is Sheryl Sandberg, with a reported 4.6 million shares as of a July 18, 2016, reporting date.
Sandberg has held the position of chief operating officer (COO) at Facebook since 2008. Prior to joining the company, Sandberg's experience included serving as chief of staff to U.S. Treasury Department Secretary Larry Summers, being vice president of global online sales and operations for Google, and working as an economist for the World Bank. Sandberg earned an MBA degree from Harvard Business School and is the author of the book, "Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead."
Jan Koum
With an estimated net worth of more than $8 billion, Jan Koum holds 2.5 million shares of Facebook stock as of a Nov. 16, 2015, reporting date.
Koum, a true rags to riches story and an immigrant from the Ukraine, survived on his mother's disability income and food stamps until he secured a job as a security and infrastructure engineer at Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) in 1998. After working under the tutelage of Yahoo co-founder David Filo, for nine years, Koum left the company in 2007, and in 2009, he designed and launched the WhatsApp mobile messaging service. WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for approximately $22 billion, at which time Koum obtained a seat on Facebook's board of directors.
Donald Graham
As of a reporting date of May 15, 2015, Donald Graham holds 648,776 shares of Facebook.
Graham has a long and successful background in the publishing industry, having joined the Washington Post in 1971 and eventually becoming publisher of the newspaper from 1979 until 2000. Graham has been the chief executive officer (CEO) of Graham Holdings Company, Kaplan, Inc. and the WP Company LLC. He was the lead independent director on Facebook's board of directors until June 2015.
Michael Schroepfer
Michael Schroepfer has a total of 588,531 shares of Facebook stock, as of Aug. 1, 2016.
Schroepfer came aboard at Facebook in 2008 as vice president of engineering. Since 2013, he has been the company’s chief technology officer, tasked with managing and developing the vast technological infrastructure that supports the heavy traffic Facebook site. Schroepfer earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in computer science at Stanford University.
Christopher Cox
As of the reporting date, July 25, 2016, Christopher K. Cox holds 384,492 shares of Facebook stock.
Cox joined the Facebook team in 2005 as a software engineer and had an influential hand in the implementation of the first versions of important features on the site. He currently serves as the company’s chief product officer, responsible for product management and design. Cox has a bachelor’s degree in symbolic systems and artificial intelligence from Stanford University.
Main Institutional and Mutual Fund Shareholders
The largest institutional shareholder of Facebook stock is FMR LLC, commonly known as Fidelity Investments, with a reported 152.4 million shares as of March 30, 2016. Another well-known investment management firm, the Vanguard Group Inc.., holds 136 million shares of Facebook.
As of the reporting date of April 29, 2016, the largest mutual fund holder of Facebook stock, with 52.2 million shares, is the Fidelity Contrafund ("FCNTX"). Not far behind is the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ("VTSMX"), with a reported 42 million shares as of March 30, 2016.
