Mark Zuckerberg and his pediatrician wife Priscilla Chan, announced the birth of their first child together, daughter,  Maxima.

Zuckerberg revealed the news in a heartfelt letter to her that included a pledge to donate 99% of the family ownership in Facebook stock to charity over their lifetime so that Max’s generation could have a better future. In the post, Zuckerberg wrote:

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.

We will give 99% of our Facebook shares — currently about $45 billion — during our lives to advance this mission. We know this is a small contribution compared to all the resources and talents of those already working on these issues. But we want to do what we can, working alongside many others.

We’ll share more details in the coming months once we settle into our new family rhythm and return from our maternity and paternity leaves. We understand you’ll have many questions about why and how we’re doing this.

As we become parents and enter this next chapter of our lives, we want to sha

Fittingly, this announcement was on World #GivingTuesday, a day for philanthropy and for people to donate to various causes. Wonderful, though as a friend of mine pointed out on my Facebook share of the news, the iniative itself is for-profit entity. Notwithstanding this fact, the overall mission and goals of the initiative will go far to help others and bridge the tech and wealth divide and gap world wide.

I agree with this portion of his letter:

Many of the greatest opportunities for your generation will come from giving everyone access to the internet.

People often think of the internet as just for entertainment or communication. But for the majority of people in the world, the internet can be a lifeline.

It provides education if you don’t live near a good school. It provides health information on how to avoid diseases or raise healthy children if you don’t live near a doctor. It provides financial services if you don’t live near a bank. It provides access to jobs and opportunities if you don’t live in a good economy.

The internet is so important that for every 10 people who gain internet access, about one person is lifted out of poverty and about one new job is created.

Yet still more than half of the world’s population — more than 4 billion people — don’t have access to the internet.

If our generation connects them, we can lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. We can also help hundreds of millions of children get an education and save millions of lives by helping people avoid disease.

Here! Here!

Kudos and Congrats!