Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan made two announcements early today, the first being the birth of their daughter who they named Max and the couple was congratulated by people from around the world. The second announcement was a surprise but it was expected to happen in the future.
He announced that on his birth of his daughter Max to this world, he will also pledge to give away 99% of their Facebook shares which he said was valued at around $45 billion. “We are committed to doing our small part to help create this world for all children. We will give 99% of our Facebook shares–currently about $45 billion–during our lives to join many others in improving this world for the next generation” Zuckerberg explained in the post.
This part of the news is not entirely new as Zuckerberg had signed up to The Giving Pledge which was started by other billionaires (Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway and Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft). The Giving Pledge’s aim was to encourage the wealthy people in society to give most of their wealth to charity.
However, you won’t expect Zuckerberg to sell all those Facebook shares at a go because it will affect the company. According to a filed report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, “he plans to sell or gift no more than $1 billion of Facebook stock each year for the next three years.” He started the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative LLC where it is states that he “will control the voting and disposition of any shares held by such entity” From a letter they posted on Notes to their daughter, Mark explained the aim of the charitable organization they started is to advance human potential and promoting equality.
