Mark Zuckerberg

Larry Page may be taking moon shots with Google Glass and self-driving cars, but in 2014, Mark Zuckerberg developed his own taste for the unconventional, orchestrating aggressive acquisitions and experimental product launches. In the first quarter, Facebook paid $2 billion for virtual-reality firm Oculus VR and $19 billion for WhatsApp, a messaging app. Meanwhile, the social network’s Creative Labs unleashed a string of new products: Paper, Slingshot, Mentions, and Rooms. No longer is Facebook playing defense to a bristly Wall Street, as it did in its early days as a publicly traded company. As of early November, shares of Facebook were up by around 37% for the year. —Erin Griffith