Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg relationship status: Engaged?

For women around the world, billionaire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg would be the ultimate catch. But if Microsoft founder Bill Gates is to be believed he's already taken -- engaged to long-time girlfriend Priscilla Chan

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg relationship status: Engaged?

For women around the world, billionaire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg would be the ultimate catch
But if Microsoft founder Bill Gates is to be believed he's already taken -- engaged to long-time girlfriend Priscilla Chan. Has Gates just revealed the cyberworld's best-kept secret, or did he just use the wrong word when described Chan as Zuckerberg's fiancee?

On the path to marital Bliss? Priscilla Chan and Zuckerberg with their
pup Beast that they adopted earlier this year

Gates is friends with Zuckerberg (26), who has pledged to give most of his fortune away. In an exclusive interview with the Mail on Sunday, when discussing their philanthropic efforts, Gates said, "I didn't say to Mark, "Give me all your money!" He was predisposed to do it and he came to me seeking advice. His fianc ufffde Priscilla thought about education and he gave money to Newark, New Jersey, and we did a co-grant so that some of our people who had some expertise in that field could help him out."

It could have been a slip of the tongue, saying fiancee instead of girlfriend, but the news would certainly add up. Zuckerberg has been dating Chan since 2003. The social network king made headlines when he bought a 5,000 square feet palace in Palo Alto, California, and last month the couple moved in. Earlier this year, they adopted a puppy named Beast and looked every bit the happy young family when they posed for photos with the dog.

In March both Zuckerberg and Chan said they were in a relationship with each other.They had already been dating for seven years. Zuckerberg noted at the time that the change had been 'long overdue' but did not explain why he had waited so long. Then, on Sunday, the day the Bill Gates interview was published, Chan's Facebook page still showed she was in a relationship with Zuckerberg. His Facebook page, however, appears to have had any reference to his relationship status completely removed.

On Sunday, Facebook's head of communications Elliot Schrage suggested that Gates was mistaken.
He said, "If Mark is engaged, Bill Gates knows something I don't know. Gates's communications guy just wrote to apologise for the misunderstanding." Zuckerberg and Miss Chan started seeing each other when they were both studying at Harvard University. Following the update in March, Chan's Facebook page revealed that the pair started dating on November 7 2003, just days after Zuckerberg's infamous Facemash stunt at Harvard.

Rs 5u00a0crore
Amount Zuckerberg is donating to the school system of Newark

Did you know?
According to Forbes magazine, Mark Zuckerberg is the world's second youngest billionaire behind Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz