Facebook chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg is set to put 99 percent of his Facebook shares, currently worth about US$45 billion, into a new philanthropy project focusing on human potential and equality, he and his wife said on Tuesday in a letter to their newborn daughter.
Zuckerberg, 31, who will jointly control the new initiative with his wife, Priscilla Chan, while remaining in charge of the world’s largest online social network, said he would sell or give up to US$1 billion in shares in each of the next three years.
Zuckerberg will keep a controlling stake in Facebook, valued at US$303 billion as of Tuesday’s close, for what the company called the “foreseeable future.” According to Facebook’s most recent proxy statement, Zuckerberg owned 4 million Class A shares and 422.3 million Class B shares, which have 10 times the voting power of A shares. Combined he held 54 percent of the voting power of the company’s shares.
Photo: EPA
Zuckerberg said he plans to remain chief executive officer of Facebook for “many, many years to come.”
Zuckerberg’s new project, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, is not his first in the world of philanthropy. When he was 26, he signed the Giving Pledge, which invites the world’s wealthiest individuals and families to commit to giving more than half of their wealth to philanthropy or charitable causes over their lifetime or in their will.
Zuckerberg is relatively young to commit so much of his wealth. Microsoft Corp cofounder Bill Gates was 45 in 2000, the year he and his wife founded the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Warren Buffett was 76 in 2006 when he committed to give away all of his Berkshire Hathaway stock to philanthropic organizations.
About US$350 billion is given away each year in the US by charities, Chronicle of Philanthropy editor Stacy Palmer said. She said that Zuckerberg and his wife’s announcement was remarkable, not just because of the donation size, but because of their ages.
“Our lists of the top donors are usually dominated by people in their 70s or 80s,” she said. “This is a message to other young people who are deciding what to do with their great wealth.”
In the 2,220-word letter, Zuckerberg and Chan, a pediatrician, touched on issues including health, education, Internet access and learning before announcing the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which aims to “advance human potential and promote equality.”
They plan to give away 99 percent of their Facebook shares over their lifetimes to advance the initiative, which was formed as a limited liability company. It will begin by focusing on curing disease, Internet connectivity, community building and personalized learning — the idea that technology can help students learn at different paces.
Chan and Zuckerberg have so far committed US$1.6 billion to their philanthropy. They have given several donations this year, including to public schools, initiatives to bring better wireless Internet access and to San Francisco General Hospital, where Chan works as a pediatrician.
Zuckerberg and Chan said they will share more details when they return from their maternity and paternity leaves.
Zuckerberg has started his two months of paternity leave, a Facebook representative said, and will be available if “absolutely needed.”
Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer, and Mike Schroepfer, chief technology officer, are to run the company in Zuckerberg’s absence.
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