Mark Zuckerberg and Wife Pledge 99% of Their Facebook Shares to Charity
Mark Zuckerberg, the chief of Facebook, and his wife, Priscilla Chan, at the White House in September. They announced on Facebook the birth of their daughter, Max. Credit Molly Riley/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images SAN FRANCISCO — Mark Zuckerberg , the co-founder and chief executive of Facebook , announced on Tuesday that he and his wife would give 99 percent of their Facebook shares “during our lives” — holdings currently worth $45 billion — to charitable purposes. The pledge was made in an open letter to their newborn daughter, Max, who was born a week ago. Mr. Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, said they were forming a new organization, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, to manage the money. “Our initial areas of focus will be personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities,” they wrote. In a securities filing, Facebook said Mr. Zuckerberg planned “to sell or gift no more than $1 billion of Facebook stock e