New father Zuckerberg to give away 99% of Facebook shares

Billionaire Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Dr Priscilla Chan have marked the birth of their first child with an announcement that they were giving away most of their fortune to charity.

In a letter to their newborn daughter Max posted on the social media website he created, Mr Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr Chan, pledged to give away 99 per cent of their Facebook shares during their lifetimes. The shares are worth $45 billion (€42 billion).

The couple said that they were forming a new organisation, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, to “advance human potential and promote equality for all children in the next generation.”

They have said that they will first focus on “personalised learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities,” they said in their announcement on Facebook in what stands as one of the biggest charitable pledges ever made.

“We know this is a small contribution compared to all the resources and talents of those already working on these issues,” the couple said in the statement. “But we want to do what we can, working alongside many others.”

“Our society has an obligation to invest now to improve the lives of all those coming into this world, not just those already here,” Zuckerberg and Chan wrote in the letter.

“But right now, we don’t always collectively direct our resources at the biggest opportunities and problems your generation will face.”

Controlling shareholder

In a separate public announcement, Facebook, which boasts a market value of $300 billion, said that Mr Zuckerberg’s has committed to disposing of no more than $1 billion of Facebook shares each year for the next three years.

The social media entrepreneur, one of the world’s richest people, will hold on to about $450 million worth of shares along with sufficient voting shares leaving him with control of the company.

The company stressed in a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission that the charitable act by Mr Zuckerberg (31) would not affect his status as Facebook’s controlling shareholder “for the foreseeable future” and that he would continue as the company’s chairman and chief executive “for many, many years.”

Billionaire coalition

“This is a beautiful letter and an incredible commitment to future generations,” said Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer.

Mr Zuckerberg this week joined a group of billionaires by signing up to the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, a group set up by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to contribute billions to a clean energy fund.

He signed the “Giving Pledge” in 2010, a commitment he made to give away more than half of his fortune to philanthropy or charity.

Responding to his decision to give away his Facebook fortune, Bill Gates and his wife Melinda said in a statement released by Facebook: “Wow. The example you’re setting today is an inspiration to us and the world.

“We can be confident of this: Max and every child born today will grow up in a world that is better than the one we know now.”

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who founded the Giving Pledge with Mr Gates, said that the couple were “breaking the mould with this breathtaking commitment.”

“A combination of brains, passion and resources on this scale will change lives of millions,” he said. “On behalf of future generations, I thank them.”