London, September 23 :

The frat nerd who will not get out of bed for less than a billion dollars “Frat nerd’’ best sums up Mark Zuckerberg, the 22-year-old Harvard dropout who looks set to become a multi-millionaire if he sells the online networking phenomenon he created after a week of sleepless nights two-and-a-half years ago.

Zuckerberg came up with Facebook.com in his sophomore year at Harvard, as a way of helping students deal with the sometimes unfriendly atmosphere. The site allowed students to create their own online identities and forge virtual acquaintances that could turn into real friendships. Other colleges joined the network, then schools, then workplaces until the site became one of the most popular in the US.

After a series of approaches and rebuffs worthy of the campus dating scene, Yahoo! looks set to snap up Facebook in a deal that could be worth up to $1bn and leave Zuckerberg pocketing $300m.