Zuckerberg, wife vow to give 99% of Facebook shares
Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan celebrated the birth of a baby girl with the announcement that they plan to give away most of their fortune through a new initiative to “advance human potential and promote equality for all children in the next generation.”
The couple made the announcement Tuesday afternoon in a letter on Facebook to their newborn daughter, Max.
In it, the billionaire Facebook founder and chief executive and his physician wife pledged to give away 99% of Facebook shares in their lifetime, currently worth about $45 billion.
“Our initial areas of focus will be personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities,” Zuckerberg and Chan wrote to their daughter. “We know this is a small contribution compared to all the resources and talents of those already working on these issues. But we want to do what we can.”
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative follows in the footsteps of the Gates Foundation started by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and wife Melinda Gates and is part of a growing wave of philanthropy from the Facebook generation of entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley.
Zuckerberg, 31, had already signed The Giving Pledge, a public commitment to give away at least 50% or more of his or her wealth during his or her lifetime or upon his or her death.
He and Priscilla have already donated $1.6 billion to philanthropy including $120 million to support education in underserved communities in the Bay Area, $75 million to San Francisco General Hospital to complete a trauma center and buy equipment and technology and $100 million to the Newark Public School System.
Facebook said the dispersal of shares would not affect Zuckerberg ’s status as the controlling shareholder of Facebook “for the foreseeable future.”