Amidst fears of global conflict and nuclear war, Facebook’s* founder has made plans to ensure survival – for himself at least.
US media reported this week on Mark Zuckerberg’s plans for an expansive 5,000-square-foot underground bunker forming just part of a sprawling compound under construction on land the billionaire owns in Hawaii.
The tech mogul has made efforts to keep the plans secret, forcing carpenters, electricians and other contractors to sign airtight nondisclosure agreements. “It’s fight club, we don’t talk about fight club,” a former employee told a US outlet. “Anything posted from here, they get wind of it right away.”
The Zuckerberg family has reportedly spent $170 million acquiring the property since August 2014. The compound is self-sustaining, generating its own energy and water supplies, and includes onsite ranching and farming.
Above ground the compound will include more than a dozen buildings with at least 30 bedrooms and 30 bathrooms. Two mansions will provide 57,000 square feet of living space while a large building will include a gym, pools, sauna, hot tub and tennis court. Some eleven tree houses throughout the property will be connected by rope bridges.
Below ground a bunker will include a living space and soundproofed doors. Descriptions of some of the rooms read like the stuff of science fiction, with passages hidden behind bookshelves leading to secret areas.
Mark Zuckerberg rode success from his Facebook social media platform to financial superstardom; reports indicate the mogul is the seventh-richest man in the world in 2023 with a net worth of about $115.3 billion. Facebook is used widely across the world but recent attempts by the billionaire to popularize virtual reality technology have been met with a mixed reception.
Seed funding for Facebook emerged from a variety of sources, including In-Q-Tel, an investment arm of the US Central Intelligence Agency that helps finance technology that assists the agency in data gathering.
*Meta and its subsidiaries Facebook and Instagram have been banned in Russia for extremist activities.