Mark Zuckerberg open letter to daughter Max in full
The Facebook CEO announced the birth of his daughter with a new initiative to eradicate inequality
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Mark Zuckerberg welcomed his first child into the world on Wednesday with a lengthy essay pledging to make the world a better place for her to live in.
Unlike most parents who share exhausted-but-overjoyed hospital bed pictures of their offspring on Facebook, Zuckerberg chose a much more dramatic way of presenting his daughter Max to his 42 million followers. His essay vows to change the world to eliminate inequality and give every child a chance at education. The Facebook CEO’s plan to do this is through philanthropy - Zuckerberg has pledged to donate 99 per cent of his shares to charity throughout his lifetime. Right now, that equates to $45 billion.
Of course, while his intentions have been praised as honourable by some, others couldn’t resist mocking the billionaire for his timing when announcing his new Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and his 2,200 word missive that began with the claim Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan almost “didn’t have the words” to describe their joy at their new arrival.
“Your mother and I have both taught students and we've seen what it takes to make this work,” he writes. “It will take working with the strongest leaders in education to help schools around the world adopt personalised learning. It will take engaging with communities, which is why we're starting in our San Francisco Bay Area community. It will take building new technology and trying new ideas. And it will take making mistakes and learning many lessons before achieving these goals.
“As you begin the next generation of the Chan Zuckerberg family, we also begin the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to join people across the world to advance human potential and promote equality for all children in the next generation. Our initial areas of focus will be personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities.”
A well-intentioned post or a great PR opportunity? Read the letter in full and decide for yourself.
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, 1 December 2015
He has announced plans to take two months paternity leave from Facebook.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments