Saverin, who owns a 2% stake in Meta, emerged as this year’s top wealth gainer among Singapore’s billionaires, retaining his position as the richest for the second consecutive year, according to Forbes.
His fortune grew by $13 billion over the past year, driven by the rising value of Meta shares as the company intensifies its focus on AI investments.
While the 42-year-old is now a Singapore resident, he was born to a wealthy Brazilian family in 1982 and later pursued his education at Harvard University in Massachusetts, the U.S., according to Bloomberg.
In February 2004, he teamed up with Mark Zuckerberg and two other classmates to launch Facebook, which was initially designed as a social network for college students.
It was an investment Saverin made with the majority of his life savings at the time, he later wrote on his LinkedIn.
“I am thankful and humbled to have played a part in Facebook’s remarkable transition from a then one-college-specific social network to the most ubiquitous social utility in the world today,” he said.
Saverin chose not to join the other Facebook co-founders in Silicon Valley and was ousted from the company in the summer of 2004 due to disputes over management.
The dispute resulted in the reduction of his stake as new investors joined, prompting him to challenge the matter in court.
A legal settlement was ultimately reached that left him with an estimated 2% stake in the company.
Saverin moved to Singapore in 2009 and renounced his US citizenship in 2012, a move that allowed him to sidestep an estimated US$700 million in capital gains taxes, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
He dismissed allegations of tax evasion, explaining that his decision was fueled by a desire to live and work in the city-state rather than any financial motives.
With no capital gains tax, Singapore has long been a popular destination for high-net-worth individuals and those establishing family offices.
It was here that Saverin reconnected with his future wife, Elaine Andriejanssen, whom he had met in Massachusetts while they were both studying in the state, though at different schools. They married at an undisclosed location near the French Riviera in 2015.
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Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin (L) and his wife Elaine (R) attend an event in Singapore on May 26, 2016. Photo by AFP |
While Meta remains Saverin’s primary source of wealth, he has been working as a venture capitalist with a diverse portfolio of investments across Southeast Asia and beyond.
He co-founded B Capital, a global investment firm, in 2015 and currently serves as its co-CEO.
His investments include price-comparison app Shopsavvy, multimedia video platform Qwiki, and Jumio, an online service that protects users from fraud and identity theft, according to the South China Morning Post.
In 2020, Saverin invested in Antler, an early-stage venture capital fund and startup accelerator established by his Harvard classmate and close friend, Magnus Grimeland.
B Capital raised $250 million to invest in early-stage startups in 2022 and secured $750 million for its late-stage venture capital fund earlier this year.
Outside of these business ventures, Saverin has also been reportedly acquiring some top properties in Singapore, including a two-story bungalow worth $170 million on Nassim Road, which is often regarded as the most luxurious and prestigious street in the city-state.
He also allegedly purchased a luxury penthouse suite in Ardmore Park, a luxury condominium development, for S$60 million (US$44.6 million) in 2017.
Saverin believes that the most successful companies and entrepreneurs emerge during times of economic downturn and volatility, Business Insider reported, citing his comments at the 10th Milken Institute Asia Summit held in Singapore last September.
“Periods like these breed entrepreneurs that are grown up with capital constraints as part of their initial DNA, where they understand that they need to build true mission-critical products — not products they claim are mission critical, but products that genuinely people need,” he said.
