Mark Zuckerberg announces he’s giving away 99pc of his Facebook shares – and he’s a new dad

Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has announced that he is a father, and pledged to give away 99 per cent of his Facebook shares to make the world a “better place” for baby daughter Maxima and others.

In a letter to Maxima posted on his Facebook page, Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan said they were going to give away almost all of their company shares - estimated value US$45 billion - during their lives in an effort to make a happy and healthy world.

“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,” the letter said.

Zuckerberg will “gift or otherwise direct” nearly all his shares of Facebook stock, or the after-tax proceeds of sales of shares, to further a mission of “advancing human potential and promoting equality” by means of activities for the public good, the California-based social network said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Zuckerberg, however, “intends to retain his majority voting position in our stock for the foreseeable future,” Facebook said in the SEC filing.