The morning routines of CEOs and founders, from Mark Zuckerberg to Melinda French Gates

Like his fitness routine, there's a good chance Mark Zuckerberg's morning habits have evolved over time. But in an old Facebook Live Q&A, the Meta CEO said he wakes up at 8 a.m. and immediately checks Facebook, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp on his phone.

His social media browsing usually lasts only a few minutes, he said at the time, though it sometimes stretches out longer depending on the day.

"It's a pretty sad situation, to be honest," he said. "I have contacts, and I can't see very well. And before I put my contacts in, I often look to see what is going on Facebook."

Zuckerberg then usually follows up his screen time with gym time. Although he used to work out at least three times a week, usually running, he told Joe Rogan in 2022 that he didn't like how running gave him time to "think a lot."

Instead, he wanted to find something "that's both super engaging physically but also intellectually" where he is unable to focus on anything else.

"MMA is the perfect thing because if you stop paying attention for one second, you're going to end up on the bottom," Zuckerberg said.

The Facebook founder said on Lex Fridman's podcast in 2023 that he did three to four jiu-jitsu and MMA sessions weekly, along with strength and conditioning work and mobility training.

The Apple CEO likes to start his morning as early as 4 a.m. to 5 a.m. and spends his first waking hour on emails.

Cook is "pretty religious" about reading a lot of emails from customers and employees, he said in a 2023 episode of "Dua Lipa: At Your Service."

"The customers are telling me things that they love about us or things that they want changed about us. Employees are giving me ideas," he said. "But it's a way to stay grounded in terms of what the community is feeling, and I love it."

Cook then said that he spends an hour at the gym, usually doing strength training.

"I've got somebody to really push me to do things I don't want to do, and I do no work during that period of time at all," he said. "I never check my phone."

Although it's unclear if he eats breakfast daily, he reportedly "dug into scrambled egg whites, sugar-free cereal, unsweetened almond milk, and bacon" during a 2017 interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin, a columnist at The New York Times.

OpenAI's chief executive wrote in a 2018 blog post that the first few hours of the morning are his "most productive time of the day," so he makes sure to keep those periods free of meetings.

Altman said in the blog post that he rarely eats breakfast, instead opting for a big shot of espresso after waking up. As a result, he said he gets around 15 hours of fasting.

Another early riser, the Snap CEO wakes up at 5 a.m. for some alone time, Spiegel said in a 2018 interview that appeared in the Entrepreneurship Handbook.

"I get up really early, because that's the only time that's 'Evan Time' for me, when people aren't really awake yet," he said. "I get a couple hours between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. to do whatever I wanna do."

Spiegel likes to check the app and his email after waking up and then drinks a double espresso. Then, he goes to the gym for 45 minutes or meditates.

Spiegel told Vogue Australia in 2022 that his wife, Australian model Miranda Kerr, got him "hooked on Kriya meditation," which he called "life-changing."

Kerr, founder of Kora Organics, has also reportedly put Spiegel on the brand's brand's turmeric brightening and exfoliating mask.

"He doesn't use it as an actual mask; he keeps it in the shower and uses it as an exfoliant," Kerr told New Beauty in 2019.

She added, "What he loves about it is that it has peppermint oil in it, so it's so invigorating. He says he can't be without it because it's his little boost of aromatherapy in the morning! It gives him energy!"

The former Amazon CEO seems to have a slightly more relaxed start to his day and said he likes to "putter in the morning," Axios reported in 2018.

"So I like to read the newspaper," he said. "I like to have coffee. I like have breakfast with my kids before they go to school."

He and his fiancé, Lauren Sánchez, have a no-phone rule during the mornings and share a "magic moment" before the kids wake up, Sánchez told People.

The two also try to journal together, she said in 2023 interview with Vogue, though admits that they're "not quite there" yet and do it three times a week. They also enjoy coffee together, with Bezos drinking his morning brew in a self-heating Ember mug.

The billionaire then likes to get in some gym time almost every day. On a good day, Bezos said in a Lex Fridman podcast that he does 30 minutes of cardio and 45 minutes of weightlifting or some kind of resistance training.

"I have a trainer who you know I love who pushes me," Bezos said in the podcast. "Which is really helpful."

Bezos then sets his first meeting at 10 a.m. and said he likes to do his "high-IQ meetings" before noon, according to Axios.

"Like anything that's going to be really mentally challenging, that's a 10 o'clock meeting," he said. "And by 5 p.m., I'm like, 'I can't think about that today. Let's try this again tomorrow at 10 a.m.'"

The Scholastic CEO previously told BI that he wakes up between 5:30 a.m. and 6 a.m., drinks coffee, checks emails, and scans the news to start his day.

For world, political, and business news, Warwick turns to The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Financial Times. He also likes to keep up with the English Premier League as an Arsenal fan, so he'll check up on The Guardian, The London Times, and the Daily Telegraph to keep up with his team.

At 7 a.m., Warwick and his wife will do some "vigorous" walking or jobbing along The High Line or Hudson River Park — a ritual that the two have done nearly every morning for over a decade.

Warwick then leaves for work at 8:30 a.m., opting to walk 25 minutes to and from his office in SoHo, barring bad weather or late nights. By around 9 a.m., he gets an avocado toast and skinny latte from Cliffords, Scholastic HQ's rooftop café and coffee bar, to enjoy at his desk while going through emails.

The Salesforce CEO likes to start his day by meditating for 30 to 60 minutes to manage his stress.

A big fan of the wellness practice, Benioff has worked with monks and nuns from Plum Village in France, even hosting them at his home in 2015.

"I am very interested in keeping a clear head," he said in a 2005 interview with SFGate. "So I enjoy meditation, which I've been doing for over a decade — probably to help relieve the stress I was going through when I was working at Oracle."

He has extended his love of the practice to his employees by having meditation rooms on every floor at a Salesforce building in San Francisco, an idea he said was inspired by the Plum Village monks.

CEO of space company Rocket Lab, Peter Beck, previously told BI that he starts his day between 4:30 and 5 a.m. in New Zealand by immediately going through emails.

He also completely forgoes breakfast and coffee.

"I can't drink coffee," Beck said. "It completely knocks me out and puts me to sleep."

But sometimes, his mornings can start hours before his already early schedule depending on his company's projects — which can have sporadic timing as a rocket business.

"The rocket launches when the rocket needs to launch," Beck said. "So if that's 2 a.m. in the morning, it's 2 a.m. in the morning."

When the Disney CEO gets up at 4:15 a.m., he tries to avoid looking at his phone until after his morning exercise routine.

Iger said at a summit hosted by Vanity Fair in 2018 that he tries to exercise and think before he reads.

"Because if I read, it throws me off, it's distracting," he said. "I'm immediately thinking about usually someone else's thoughts instead of my own."

Iger added that he likes being alone with his own thoughts and said that it gives him "an opportunity to not just replenish but to organize, and it's important."

To further protect from distractions, Iger said he works out in a darkened room with the TV on mute, which he watches while his own music plays.

Jack Dorsey, the cofounder of Block and X, formerly Twitter, used to wake up at around 5 a.m. and start his day with 30 minutes of meditation and then a series of seven-minute workouts, he said in a 2015 live chat.

Although he had built a very consistent routine during his time running Twitter, Dorsey said in a 2018 podcast interview with Ben Greenfield that he now wakes up at 6:15 a.m. and begins with an hour of meditation and then a cup of coffee.

"I'll say that my routine today is completely different than my routine three years ago but I feel like I have a lot of it dialed in based on what I'm currently experiencing in terms of stress and just what I have to do every day," Dorsey told Greenfield.

The JPMorgan CEO starts his morning at 5 a.m. and spends two hours reading five newspapers, analyst and internal bank reports, and even speech transcripts, The Wall Street Journal reported.

He then exercises for 45 minutes, doing aerobics, light weights, or stretches. Despite his voracious appetite for reading, Dimon said he tends not to be hungry in the morning.

Pivotal Ventures founder Melinda French Gates' Monday morning starts around 6:30 or 7 o'clock, and her first step is coffee. French Gates told The Wall Street Journal that she "doesn't really like to eat breakfast," and she prefers to have quiet time in the morning.

She moves her body with stretching, exercise, or her Monday morning walks with three friends (a 20-year tradition). In the summer, French Gates said she enjoys kayaking, and she hits her Peloton during the winter months.

Cold plunges have been a part of her routine for 10 years, she said, especially ahead of a "tough workday."

"If you can get through that, you're like, OK, 'I can basically do anything today,'" French Gates said.

As for skincare, she said she keeps it simple despite all the skin products she's received from her daughters or dermatologist. She also does not wear makeup unless there's a big meeting ahead of her.