Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife have said they plan to donate 99pc of their shares in the social network to charity.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, announced Tuesday that they would give away 99 percent of their Facebook shares to a new charity.

The surprise announcement came in the form of a letter to Zuckerberg’s baby daughter Max, who was born on Tuesday. The charity will be named the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and will “advance human potential and promote equality,” Zuckerberg noted, focusing on global health, education, Internet access and community building.

“We believe all lives have equal value, and that includes the many more people who will live in future generations than live today,” Zuckerberg wrote in the letter posted to his Facebook account. “Our society has an obligation to invest now to improve the lives of all those coming into this world, not just those already here.”

A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the charity revealed it would be initially funded by three annual donations stemming from the sale of Facebook stock and limited at $1 billion per year. Shares currently held by the couple amount to which currently amount to $45 billion.

With the announcement, Zuckerberg joins the likes of other billionaires such as Warren Buffett and Bill Gates who have promised to give away their vast fortunes. Zuckerberg and Chan have already donated heavily to different causes, including a $25 million pledge last year to help stop the spread of Ebola.

In 2013, Facebook launched the non-profit Internet.org, to bring Internet access to impoverished and remote regions with a focus on Africa, Asia and South America.

Noting that 4 billion people around the globe – more than half of the planet’s population – still don’t have access to the Web, Zuckerberg claimed that improved Internet connectivity will also help with education, employment and health.

“If our generation connects them, we can lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty,” Zuckerberg wrote. “We can also help hundreds of millions of children get an education and save millions of lives by helping people avoid disease.”

Barry Eitel / Anadolu Agency

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