Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan Welcome Baby Girl Max, Pledge 99 Percent of Facebook Shares Towards Philanthropic Efforts

Billionaire social media mogul and wife are dedicated to "improving this world for the next generation"

By Rebecca Macatee Dec 01, 2015 9:41 PMTags
Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla ChanFacebook

Mark Zuckerberg is officially a father!

On Tuesday,the Facebook founder announced that he and wife Priscilla Chan welcomed a baby girl named Max. To celebrate the arrival of their newest family member, the 31-year-old billionaire and his wife penned a touching letter to their daughter and also made a major philanthropic announcement: In honor of their newborn baby girl, Mark and Priscilla "will give 99% of our Facebook shares--currently about $45 billion--during our lives to join many others in improving this world for the next generation."

In Mark and Priscilla's heartfelt open letter to Max, the pair expressed their hopes that, "Like all parents, we want you to grow up in a world better than ours today." They also laid out some ways they hope all of us can work together to accomplish their mission--"advancing human potential and promoting equality" for future generations; The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will work towards accomplishing the philanthropic initiatives outlined in the 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

Mark and Priscilla ended their detailed letter with a sweet sendoff:

"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.

Love,
Mom and Dad"

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Sheryl Sandberg, Scooter Braun, Melinda Gates and Katie Couric were among the many notable names to publicly congratulate the proud new parents on the arrival of baby Zuck.

On another note, first-time mom-to-be Anne Hathaway keeps her growing baby bump under wraps in the video below.