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Facebook boss celebrates daughter’s birth with $45bn pledge

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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is now a proud father after his wife put to bed on Tuesday. The excited young billionaire sent a heartfelt post announcing the birth of his daughter and also revealing plans to give away a staggering 99% of his Facebook shares which amounts to $45 billion to fund a charitable initiative.
“The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will join people across the world to advance human potential and promote equality for all children in the next generation.” The letter by Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, to their daughter max read in part.

“Our initial areas of focus will be personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities,” the proud new parents wrote in the letter, which was posted to both of their Facebook pages.

Read also: Facebook hits 1 billion users in one day

Zuckerberg and his wife said they would provide more details “in the coming months once we settle into our new family rhythm and return from our maternity and paternity leaves.” However, a Facebook filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today sheds more light on how Zuckerberg plans to gradually donate his shares to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
“He has informed us that he plans to sell or gift no more than $1 billion of Facebook stock each year for the next three years,” the filing said. It added the Facebook co-founder and CEO plans to retain his majority voting position in the company “for the foreseeable future.”
Explaining their big gift, Zuckerberg and Chan wrote to their daughter they felt “a great responsibility to leave the world a better place for you and all children. We wish you a life filled with the same love, hope and joy you give us. We can’t wait to see what you bring to this world.”

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