Mark Zuckerberg has baby girl and makes astounding promise
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have a lot of great news to share today.
On Zuckerberg's Facebook page, the couple announced the arrival of their newborn baby girl, Max.
"Priscilla and I are so happy to welcome our daughter Max into this world," Zuckerberg wrote.
In honor of their daughter's birth, the couple pledged to donate 99 percent of their Facebook shares over the course of their lifetime to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which describes its mission as advancing human potential and promoting equality in areas such as health, education, scientific research, and energy.
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.
"For your generation to live in a better world, there is so much more our generation can do," they wrote.
No further details of the donation were provided, but the couple wrote that they would share more information in the coming months "once we settle into our new family rhythm and return from our maternity and paternity leaves."
The massive donation would still leave Zuckerberg -- who is currently #7 on Forbes' list of richest Americans -- with hundreds of millions of dollars in personal wealth.
The announcement was embedded in a letter the new parents wrote to their daughter and posted on Facebook:
Your mother and I don't yet have the words to describe the hope you give us for the future. Your new life is full of promise, and we hope you will be happy and healthy so you can explore it fully. You've already given us a reason to reflect on the world we hope you live in.
Like all parents, we want you to grow up in a world better than ours today.While headlines often focus on what's wrong, in many ways the world is getting better. Health is improving. Poverty is shrinking. Knowledge is growing. People are connecting. Technological progress in every field means your life should be dramatically better than ours today.
We will do our part to make this happen, not only because we love you, but also because we have a moral responsibility to all children in the next generation....
Max, we love you and feel 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.
Below is Zuckerberg's full post, including to his letter to Max.
Priscilla and I are so happy to welcome our daughter Max into this world!For her birth, we wrote a letter to her about...
Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday, December 1, 2015