Mark Zuckerberg’s pledge to give away Facebook stock worth $45 billion puts him at the forefront of a philanthropic class that has promised to donate most of their fortunes.
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In a letter to their daughter Max, Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, said the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will “join people across the world to advance human potential and promote equality for all children in the next generation”.
In fact, when Gates caught wind of this news he praised the couple saying, “Max and every child will now grow up in a better world”. They are forming a new organization, called the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, to pursue those goals. You’ve already given us a reason to reflect on the world we hope you live in.
The post attracted over 5,70,000 “likes”, including from Melinda Gates, wife of Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
In the 2,220-word letter, Zuckerberg and Chan touched on issues including health, education, Internet access and learning before announcing the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which aims to “advance human potential and promote equality”.
Zuckerberg said he still plans to remain CEO of Facebook for “many, many years to come”, and Facebook said Zuckerberg is expected to be the controlling stockholder of the company for the foreseeable future.
Zuckerberg said that following the birth of the baby, he would take two months’ paternity leave and said that it was important to spend time with new-born babies.
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“Our initial areas of focus will be personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities”, they wrote. Back in 2010, Zuckerberg signed the Giving Pledge which meant he committed more than half of his wealth to philanthropy or charity. “But we want to do what we can, working alongside many others”, Zuckerberg mentioned in the Facebook post.
