[April 25, 2011] Battle to be recognised as a Facebook founder Tweet SINGAPORE, Apr 24, 2011 (The Straits Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The lesser-known co-founder of Facebook, entrepreneur Eduardo Saverin, 29, met the 'face' of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, at Harvard University in 2004. It was there that they hatched an idea for a social networking website for Harvard students and launched thefacebook.com, which later evolved into Facebook. Mr Saverin was the site's chief financial officer and business manager. But the two fell out in 2005 when Mr Zuckerberg allegedly diluted Mr Saverin's stake in the business from about 30 per cent to less than 10 per cent, leading to the two suing and counter-suing each other. The lawsuits were eventually settled out of court in 2009. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but the recognition of Mr Saverin as one of Facebook's four founders was a sign that the pair's feud had ended. He now owns a 5 per cent share of Facebook. In a semi-fictionalised biography film, The Social Network, last year, Mr Saverin was portrayed as a loyal friend who lends Mr Zuckerberg the seed money to start Facebook, only to be subsequently sidelined by him. The filmmakers had adapted the story from a book whose author had interviewed primarily Mr Saverin. Mr Zuckerberg had declined to be interviewed. Controversy erupted over how the characters were portrayed, with Mr Zuckerberg dismissing the film as a work of fiction. Responding to the movie on CNBC's guest blog, Mr Saverin wrote about watching his life and experiences unfold on the screen 'with amazement and humility' without stating whether it was an accurate depiction. The Social Network won three awards at the Oscars this year: best adapted screenplay, best original score and best editing. Born in Sao Paolo, Brazil, to a wealthy Brazilian-Jewish family, Mr Saverin graduated from Harvard with a degree in economics. To see more of the Asia News Network, go to http://www.asianewsnet.net/home/ Copyright (c) 2011, The Straits Times, Singapore / Asia News Network Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]