Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder and chief executive of Facebook, recently announced that he and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, would give 99 percent of their Facebook shares to charitable purposes during their lives. The holdings are currently worth more than $45 billion.
The pledge was made in an open letter to their newborn daughter, Max. The amazingly wealthy - and generous - couple said they are forming a new organization, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, to manage money, and their initial areas of focus will be on personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people, and building strong communities.
This puts the Zuckerbergs in great philanthropic company as their friends Bill and Melinda Gates have given more than $30 billion. I cannot even comprehend this amount of money.
Amazingly enough, these charitable plans are the latest indication of a growing interest in philanthropy among the tech industries young billionaires. Let's hope it keeps up because it's certainly inspiring and the type of thing the world needs more of.