Tech Entrepreneurs Embrace Philanthropy

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, announced on Tuesday that he’s planning to give away 99 percent of his Facebook’s shares (worth $45 billion) to charity during his lifetime. The announcement came in the form of a letter to his newborn daughter Max and was shared by Mr. Zuckerberg on his personal Facebook page. Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan formed the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative with the long-term objective of advancing human potential and promoting equality for future generations. Zuckerberg emphasized that he has no plans of leaving Facebook in favor of his philanthropic initiatives though, stating that he plans to remain Facebook’s CEO for many years to come.

Think what you may about Silicon Valley’s young and sometimes obnoxious tech billionaires, but many of them use their wealth to give back to society and try to improve living conditions both domestically and around the world. Spearheaded by Bill & Melinda Gates, six of America’s ten largest donors in 2014 made a name for themselves in the tech industry, among them WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum, Sean Parker of Napster fame and Nicholas Woodmann, the man behind GoPro.