Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife announced the birth of their daughter, Max, as well as plans to donate most of their wealth to a new organization that will tackle a broad range of the world’s ills.
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Zuckerberg early on added his name to those who have taken a Giving Pledge to dedicate the majority of their wealth to philanthropy.
“Max, we love you and feel a great responsibility to leave the world a better place for you and all children”.
In a letter to Maxima posted on his Facebook page, Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan said they were going to give away 99 percent of their company shares – estimated value US$45 billion (HK$350 billion) – during their lives in an effort to make a happy and healthy world.
For her birth, we wrote a letter to her about the world we hope she grows up in. You’ve given us hope that together we can build this world for Max and all children.
And for personalizing learning, they are partnering with San Francisco Bay Area schools to implement new technology and practices that will help more students to achieve their full potential. To this end they are committing 99% of their shares, which us now valued at about $45 billion, over the course of their lives. While specific details are still to come, the couple said their focus will be on fighting disease, improving education and “building strong communities”.
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The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s mission will be to “join people across the world to advance human potential and promote equality for all children in the next generation”, the letter said. In addition, the New York Times is reporting that in a securities filing Facebook has stated Zuckerberg is set to “sell or gift no more than $1 billion of Facebook stock each year for the next three years”.
