Facebook founder loses key friend

The fall in popularity of Facebook - the social networking website is currently losing 40,000 subscribers a month - appears to be effecting relations between its two 20-something founders, who, according to reports, are no longer on speaking terms.

Although it isn’t clear what caused the rift between CEO Mark Zuckerberg (pictured), named "the world’s youngest self-made billionaire" by Forbes, and his co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, it is believed to have started when transcripts of Zuckerberg's conversations, in which he referred to Moskovitz as "expendable" and a "soldier". These were unearthed during a long-running lawsuit that the company is involved in. Moskovitz promptly requested that his photograph, job title and biography were taken off the Facebook company website.

The 23-year-old Zuckerberg (worth approximately $1.5bn) has been characterised in the media as a control-freak who alienates those who work closely with him. Moskovitz was the last of four other Facebook co-founders, all of who, tellingly, now work elsewhere.