This morning, Mark Zuckerberg announced plans to give 18 million Facebook shares to charity by the end of the month.
Facebook is currently trading at $55 per share, so Zuckerberg's gift is worth just under $1 billion.
The money will go toward Zuckerberg's foundation, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and The Breakthrough...
Prize In Life Science, a Noble Prize-like award.
2013 was a year in which there was a serious backlash against the idealism of Silicon Valley.
And yeah, the industry does deserve some flack for talking about changing the world with iPhone games and photo-sharing apps. And sure, you can see why people in San Francisco might protest over Google buses using public bus stops. And sure, sometimes tech industry people say dumb, mean things about the homeless. It all adds up to a sense, recently articulated by Business Insider's Jim Edwards, that Silicon Valley is living inside a bubble of tone-deaf arrogance.
But when Mark Zuckerberg follows the lead of other tech giants, like Bill Gates, and makes massive charitable donations, it restores your faith in the industry's humans.
Zuckerberg is giving his shares away as part of a secondary stock offering from Facebook.
Reuters says Zuckerberg will sell 41.4 million shares, reducing his voting power in the company from 58.8% to 56.1%. Other insiders selling include board member Marc Andreessen, who will sell 1.65 million shares. Facebook is selling 27 million.
Source:http://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-just-gave-990-million-to-charity-2013-12#ixzz2nw8tGduC
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