Dustin Aaron Moskovitz (/ˈmɒskəvɪts/; born May 22, 1984) is an American Internet entrepreneur who co-founded Facebook, Inc. (now known as Meta) with Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum and Chris Hughes. In 2008, he left Facebook to co-found Asana with Justin Rosenstein. In March 2011, Forbes reported Moskovitz to be the youngest self-made billionaire in the world, on the basis of his 2.34% share in Facebook. As of November 2022, his net worth is estimated at US$11.3 billion.
The largest part of Moskovitz’s fortune is derived from a 1% stake in Meta Platforms. He owns about 32 million class B shares, based on the company’s 2021 proxy statement. Meta’s Facebook, the world’s largest social network, has about 3 billion monthly active users, according to a January 2023 company presentation.
He also founded task-management software company Asana with a former Meta colleague and owns 80 million shares of Class A and B stock, according to the company’s 2021 proxy statement and subsequent Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Asana went public on Sept. 30, 2020. Prior to this date, his stake wasn’t disclosed and it was assumed in this analysis that Moskovitz owned 25% of the company.
Moskovitz hasn’t disclosed how much Meta stock he sold prior to the company’s initial public offering. The billionaire sold $143 million in Facebook stock in 2012.
An Asana spokesperson declined to comment on Moskovitz’s stake in the company.
Biography
Education: Harvard University
Born in Gainesville, Florida, Moskovitz grew up in nearby Ocala, graduating from Vanguard High School in 2002. He enrolled at Harvard University, where he roomed with Mark Zuckerberg and Chris Hughes during their freshman year. With classmate Eduardo Saverin, the partners created Facebook from their dorm room in 2004. The site quickly migrated to other universities, prompting Moskovitz and Zuckerberg to drop out of Harvard University and move to Silicon Valley.
In the fall of 2004, Facebook received $500,000 in funding from venture capitalist Peter Thiel. Investments from other venture firms quickly followed. By December 2004, Facebook’s membership was approaching 1 million users.
Moskovitz became Facebook’s chief technology officer and, later, vice president of engineering. He left the social network in November 2008 to start Asana, an online company providing task management software, with Facebook colleague Justin Rosenstein. In December 2010, Moskovitz joined the Giving Pledge, committing to donate the majority of his fortune to charity. He started his foundation Good Ventures in 2011.
Career
Facebook (2004–2008)
Four people, three of whom were roommates—Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Chris Hughes, and Dustin Moskovitz—founded Facebook in their Harvard University dorm room in February 2004. Originally called thefacebook.com, it was intended as an online directory of all Harvard’s students to help residential students identify members of other residences. In June 2004, Zuckerberg, Hughes and Moskovitz took a year off from Harvard and moved Facebook’s base of operations to Palo Alto, and hired eight employees. They were later joined by Sean Parker. At Facebook, Moskovitz was the company’s first chief technology officer and then vice president of engineering
Asana (2008–present)
On October 3, 2008, Moskovitz announced that he was leaving Facebook to form a new company called Asana with Justin Rosenstein, an engineering manager at Facebook. Asana’s mission is to improve the efficiency of office workers, providing them with a tool to manage and track projects and tasks. Moskowitz has remained CEO, with Rosenstein now serving as board member and advisor. In September 2020, Asana went public at a market value of about $5.5 billion in a direct listing. As of 2021, Asana has more than 107,000 paying customers.
Milestones
- 1984 Dustin Moskovitz is born in Gainesville, Florida.
- 2004 Co-founds thefacebook.com in Harvard dorm room with three friends.
- 2005 Company officially changes its name to Facebook.
- 2007 Microsoft buys a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook for $250 million.
- 2008 Leaves Facebook to start Asana with Justin Rosenstein.
- 2009 Asana receives $9 million in venture funding.
- 2010 Joins the Giving Pledge with Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg.
- 2011 Starts his own foundation, Good Ventures.
- 2012 Facebook files to sell shares in an initial public offering.
- 2012 Asana releases its first task-management application.
- 2020 Asana goes public
