Zuckerberg’s heartfelt letter to his daughter

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg writes an emotional letter to his new daughter, Max.

Johannesburg - Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has written an emotional letter to his newborn daughter, Max, about how he and his partner, Priscilla Chan Zuckerberg, want Max to grow up in a better world than the one he did.

The 31-year-old of the world’s largest social media network talks to his daughter about the challenges she will face into today’s world, and highlights the diseases that are still responsible for millions of deaths each year.

Zuckerberg writes: “We believe all lives have equal value, and that includes the many more people who will live in future generations than live today. Our society has an obligation to invest now to improve the lives of all those coming into this world, not just those already here.

“But right now, we don't always collectively direct our resources at the biggest opportunities and problems your generation will face.

“Consider disease. Today we spend about 50 times more as a society treating people who are sick than we invest in research so you won't get sick in the first place.

Medicine has only been a real science for less than 100 years, and we've already seen complete cures for some diseases and good progress for others. As technology accelerates, we have a real shot at preventing, curing or managing all or most of the rest in the next 100 years.

“Today, most people die from five things -- heart disease, cancer, stroke, neurodegenerative and infectious diseases - and we can make faster progress on these and other problems.”

The heartfelt letter adds “our hopes for your generation focus on two ideas: advancing human potential and promoting equality”.

This, Zuckerberg writes, is why long-term investments must be made over 25, 50 or even 100 years. He adds, for Max’s generation to live in a better world, there is much more the current generation can do - which is why he is donating 99 percent of his Facebook shares to fighting issues - such as inequality - that face Max’s generation.

Zuckerberg will control the foundation, at the same time remaining in charge of Facebook for “many, many years to come”. He owns about 4 million Class A shares and 422.3 million Class B shares, which have 10 times the voting power of A shares, giving him control over 54 percent of the votes at the company, which is worth $303 billion.

In his Facebook post where he displayed the letter, Zuckerberg noted he and Chan are “committed to doing our small part to help create this world for all children. We will give 99% of our Facebook shares - currently about $45 billion - during our lives to join many others in improving this world for the next generation”.

“Thank you to everyone in this community for all your love and support during the pregnancy. You've given us hope that together we can build this world for Max and all children.”

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