Facebook's Zuckerberg promises to give away 50% of wealth
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday announced that he has signed the Giving Pledge, a promise among the wealthy to give away at least half of their holdings by the age of 65.
Zuckerberg has already shattered records as the world's youngest billionaire at age 26. He joins 16 other households in signing on to the campaign, which was started by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.
“People wait until late in their career to give back,” Zuckerberg said in a statement. “But why wait when there is so much to be done?”
Zuckerberg's worth depends on the valuation of the social media site he helms, which has been pegged as high as $15 billion.
Joining Zuckerberg are high-profile entrepreneurs: investor Carl Icahn, bond man Michael Milken and former AOL CEO Steve Case.
The full list of the new class:
- Michael and Lori Milken
- Dustin Moskovitz
- Mark Zuckerberg
- Joe and Rika Mansueto
- Nicolas Berggruen
- Ted Forstmann
- Carl Icahn
- Sidney Kimmel
- Tom and Cindy Secunda
- Charles Zegar and Merryl Snow Zega
- Lee and Toby Cooperman
- Duncan and Nancy MacMillan
- David and Barbara Green
- Denny Sanford
- Lyda Hill
- George P. Mitchell
- Jean and Steve Case
The group joins New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg; media tycoon Barry Diller and his fashion designer wife, Diane Von Furstenberg; former Citigroup CEO Sanford Weill; Star Wars king George Lucas; oil and natural gas financier T. Boone Pickens; Kleiner Perkins venture capitalist John Doerr and his wife, Ann; and Oracle chief Larry Ellison.
Related on SmartPlanet:
- Few checks, balances for Facebook founder’s $100 million grant for Newark schools
- Billionaires unite for charity: Where should the money go?
- Bill Gates: mobile health technology will save lives, help overpopulation
- Bill Gates: Making sense of microfinance
- At the Case Foundation, bringing tech entrepreneurialism to philanthropy
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com