Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has announced he will give away 99 per cent of his Facebook shares over the course of his lifetime to fund a new charity promoting green causes.
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The plan, which was posted on the Facebook founder and chief executive officer’s page, attracted more than 570,000 “likes”, including from singer Shakira, former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Melinda Gates, wife of Microsoft founder Bill Gates. “You’ve given us hope that together we can build this world for Max and all children”. Zuckerberg confirmed in his letter that it was baby Max that make him come to this decision, saying, “Having this child has made us think about all the things that should be improved in the world for her whole generation”.
As BuzzFeed’s Alex Kantrowitz reported on Tuesday night, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the organization that the couple’s fortune will go to, is structured as an LLC, a limited liability company, not as a non-profit organization.
Like all parents, we want you to grow up in a world better than ours today.
Zuckerberg will sell or gift no more than $1 billion of Facebook stock each year for the next three years and will retain his majority voting position in the company “for the foreseeable future”, the filing said.
Instead of cigars, Facebook cofounder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is celebrating the birth of his new daughter by pledging to give away 99% of his Facebook shares.
Zuckerberg is relatively young to commit so much of his wealth.
In 2009 the couple launched the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative with the aim of “advancing human potential and promoting equality”. Top at the priority list for the Initiative includes “personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities”. The move comes after the couple became parents following the birth of their daughter, Max.
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Zuckerberg has started his leave, a Facebook representative said, and will be available if “absolutely needed”.
