Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, announced the birth of their daughter, Max. The couple also announced that they plan to give away 99 percent of their shares in the social network during their lives to their charitable causes.
Zuckerberg, 31, and Chan, 30, announced Max’s birth on Zuckerberg’s Facebook page and included a long letter to her. Zuckerberg wrote about how much he hopes the world will get better for his daughter, despite all the negativity in the world.
To help make the world a better place for future generations, they have begun the Chan Zuckerberg Foundation. Seeing as today is officially #GivingTuesday, it seemed like a good time for the couple to announce that they will dedicate 99 percent of their shares in Facebook - worth $45 billion - to their chosen cause.
Zuckerberg wrote:
“As you begin the next generation of the Chan Zuckerberg family, we also begin the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to join people across the world to advance human potential and promote equality for all children in the next generation. Our initial areas of focus will be personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities.
“We will give 99% of our Facebook shares -- currently about $45 billion -- during our lives to advance this mission. We know this is a small contribution compared to all the resources and talents of those already working on these issues. But we want to do what we can, working alongside many others.”
Zuckerberg has been keeping Facebook users up-to-date on his growing family recently. Last month, he announced plans to take two months of paternity leave. He announced in July that they were expecting their first child.