Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have welcomed their first child - a daughter named Max - into the world. Zuckerberg announced Max's arrival in a Facebook post, using the updated Notes platform to publish a letter to his newborn daughter, noting in his introspective and thoughtful post, that he and his wife are planning to give away 99% of their Facebook stock - currently valued at around $45 billion - to charitable causes in order to make the world a better place for Max and all children of the future.
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
Facebook has followed Zuckerberg's post, announcing that Zuckerberg will give away no more than $1 billion of his shares per year for at least the next three years, which means Zuckerberg will maintain voting control of Facebook for the foreseeable future. It's an admirable move, and one which also, in some ways, highlights Zuckerberg's eventually exit plan from the social giant he created in a dorm room many years ago. In his 2,200 word post, Zuckerberg explains that personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities will be their initial areas of focus for investment. Zuckerberg's impassioned and thoughtful essay focuses on realizing the full potential of humanity and promoting equality in order to create a world where people can become whoever and whatever they dream to be.
"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.
We must engage directly with the people we serve. We can't empower people if we don't understand the needs and desires of their communities.
We must build technology to make change. Many institutions invest money in these challenges, but most progress comes from productivity gains through innovation.
We must participate in policy and advocacy to shape debates. Many institutions are unwilling to do this, but progress must be supported by movements to be sustainable.
We must back the strongest and most independent leaders in each field. Partnering with experts is more effective for the mission than trying to lead efforts ourselves.
We must take risks today to learn lessons for tomorrow. We're early in our learning and many things we try won't work, but we'll listen and learn and keep improving."
It's an interesting read, and an interesting insight into the mind of a man who has risen to one of the most powerful positions in modern media. And while Zuckerberg's announcement doesn't flag any imminent changes at The Social Network, it does go someway towards further underlining his ambition for Facebook, and his mission to make the network a central part of everyday life. For everyone. And if that helps us get closer to the goals laid out in Zuckerberg's vision, I'm all for it.