Mark Zuckerberg is one of the richest people in the world, but a school project of his has to close after 10 years due to financial difficulties. Many see the reason for the school’s closure as Zuckerberg withdrawing as the main financier. The school has always relied on large donations and was never self-sustainable. Broad public support has never been achieved by the school, as it reportedly had too little to show, according to a manager.
Alongside Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg is one of the richest people in the world. The German-language magazine Businessinsider reports that Zuckerberg was able to increase his wealth by 79 billion euros alone in 2024. This means Zuckerberg now has a fortune of more than 200 billion US dollars.
At the same time, it is now reported that the project “The Primary School,” a school project initiated by Zuckerberg, has to close due to a lack of funds.
School was to be a showcase project for poor children
What kind of school project is this? “The Primary School” was founded in 2016 by Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan and was primarily meant to support children and youths from low-income households.
The idea behind it: The school was to offer not only education but also healthcare and social services in one place for the poorest children in the city. The project was mainly financed by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), which is said to have invested around 100 million dollars into the school and its branches between 2018 and 2024. This is reported, for example, by the New York Times (may have paywall).
What was the problem? However, financially, it remained heavily dependent on the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative over the years. Jean-Claude Brizard, who was the chairman of the board of the Primary School, explained that the school struggled to make sufficient verifiable progress to convince public funders or even additional private funders to support it. In the end, he was then in favor of reconsidering the showcase project:
If something depends entirely on philanthropic funding – or even 50 percent – it is not sustainable in the long term. I am the one who advocated for us to also put the radical option on the table. Is it time to dissolve? Is it time to shift the assets into the community?
After a decline in donations from 8 million US dollars in 2022 to only 3.7 million US dollars in 2023, the high costs of the school became likely unaffordable.
Official reason for closure unknown
In April 2025, it was finally announced that the school will close in 2026 and will not continue. No official reason for the closure was given, but parents and media report that the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is stopping its funding for the project and that the school can no longer sustain itself. Many parents were reportedly shocked by the decision, according to the New York Times:
He is a billionaire. Why would he want to close that?
Many families and observers expressed disappointment, as the project was seen as a beacon of hope for disadvantaged communities and is now ending without a clear explanation.
At the same time, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative stated that it wants to shift the focus of society towards science and AI research in the future. Many observers see the closure of the school also in the context of the general change in mood in the USA (via PCMag.com).
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