How a Graffiti Artist Turned a $60,000 Job into a $200 Million Facebook Fortune

Revisiting the unreal story of David Choe and his Facebook stock options payment

In 2005, David Choe, a graffiti artist known for his edgy street art, found himself at a crossroads with a life-changing decision. What seemed like a routine job at the time would later catapult him into unimaginable wealth.

Here’s the story.

The Offer of a Lifetime

David Choe, the son of Korean immigrants and a self-made artist, had built a reputation for his unique graffiti style.

Though he wasn’t rolling in money, his art attracted some high-profile admirers, including Sean Parker, the co-founder of Napster and later Facebook’s first president.

In 2005, Parker approached Choe and offered him a gig to transform Facebook’s Palo Alto office into a space that embodied creativity and innovation.

For Choe, however, the job wasn’t anything extraordinary at the time. He famously thought Facebook, then a young social network competing with platforms like MySpace, “was a joke” and didn’t see much potential in it as a company.