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Facebook CEO, now a father, will give away most of his money

<p>"We're expecting our little girl any day now, and we want her to have the benefits of an entire generation that is able to take advantage of all that we're able to create," <a href="https://www.facebook.com/chanzuckerberginitiative/videos/554704454679197/" target="_blank">Priscilla Chan said</a>.</p><p>Well, that day has come. Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan welcomed their newborn girl, Max, into the world with a promise to give away 99 percent of their Facebook shares — worth about $45 billion — to charity during their lifetimes.</p><p>The family made the announcement in a lengthy open letter to Max, discussing how technology and innovation will change the world for the better. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/notes/mark-zuckerberg/a-letter-to-our-daughter/10153375081581634?pnref=story" target="_blank">Zuckerberg and Chan wrote</a>: "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."</p><p>The donation will be funneled through the family's charitable organization, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, with the stated goal of building a better future for Max's generation. The initial money will be focused on education, curing diseases and building communities.</p><p>The couple says they'll share more details about when and how they'll donate their shares in the coming months.</p><p><i>This video includes images from Getty Images.</i></p>
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Talk about birth announcements: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife said they'll devote nearly all their wealth — roughly $45 billion — to good works in celebration of their new baby daughter, Max.

Zuckerberg's wife, Priscilla Chan, gave birth to a 7-pound, 8-ounce daughter last week. But the couple didn't put out the news until Tuesday, when Zuckerberg posted it on — of course — Facebook.

In the same post, Zuckerberg said he and Chan will commit 99 percent of their Facebook stock to such causes as fighting disease, improving education and "building strong communities." They are forming a new organization, called the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, that will pursue those goals through a combination of charitable donations, private investment and promotion of government-policy reform.

"Like all parents, we want you to grow up in a world better than ours today," the social media mogul and his wife wrote in a letter to their daughter, which they also posted on Facebook.

In the letter, they described their goals as "advancing human potential and promoting equality" and added: "We must make long term investments over 25, 50 or even 100 years. The greatest challenges require very long time horizons and cannot be solved by short term thinking."

Zuckerberg promised to release more details in the future. But he said the couple will transfer most of their wealth to the initiative "during our lives." In a statement, Facebook described the initiative as not a foundation but "a limited liability company controlled by Mark and Priscilla."

The Facebook co-founder and chief executive is one of the world's wealthiest men. He and Chan, a pediatrician, have previously donated large sums to public schools in Newark, New Jersey and the San Francisco Bay Area, along with the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, where Chan did her medical training.

But Zuckerberg told the Associated Press in an interview last month that he has no plans to step down as CEO of Facebook. In a statement, the company also said the couple's plan to transfer their shares over time won't affect his status as controlling shareholder of the company.

In addition, Zuckerberg has committed to dispose of no more than $1 billion of Facebook stock every year for the next three years, the company said.