Mark Zuckerberg Donation: Facebook CEO Criticized For Charity Pledge, Is He Actually Doing The Right Thing? [PHOTO]
His announcement that he was donating 99 percent of his Facebook shares to charitable causes in celebration of his newborn daughter hasn't earned Mark Zuckerberg as much public approval as he may have hoped.
The CEO, creator and majority owner of Facebook made the announcement along with his wife, Priscilla Chan, that in honor of their daughter, that they were going to give the majority of their shares, valued at about $45 billion, in order to advance the mission of their Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to help "advance human potential" and "promote equality for all children" in the next generation.
However, the move has been criticized by some on social media, and in the press, because the Initiative has been made into an LLC, not a charity specifically.
yo if you read or wrote that zuckerberg is giving 99 percent of his shares "to charity"--wrong https://t.co/NhaK3QtJ31
— Casey Johnston (@caseyjohnston) December 2, 2015
He is also being criticized over the fact that he gets tax breaks.
Zuckerberg to give away 99% of shares...very nice of him. I guess it makes up for the tax that FB don't pay? https://t.co/ZEyfKa43cF — Sehar Graham (@SeharGraham) December 2, 2015
And of course, jokes were made about the fact that he wants to do something charitable:
Big deal #MarkZuckerberg. I've given a fortune to Charity over the years. And yes, Charity is the name of my favorite stripper.
— President Trump (@Writeintrump) December 2, 2015
However, others have taken to social media to applaud the move, and express that they didn't think it was right that he was being criticized so heavily.
I take back 90% of the bad things I've ever said about Facebook. They can have my data. https://t.co/sjVfCiCEhN via @voxdotcom — Justin Beach (@justinsb) December 2, 2015
#MarkZuckerberg giving up 99% of his $ almost allows me to forgive him for letting guys who beat me up n the 8th grade friend me on Facebook
— Lance Burson (@lanceburson) December 2, 2015
Bloody hell it's a special kind of cynicism when a businessman gives away 99% of his shares and people are still sniping. #MarkZuckerberg — Emma C Williams (@emma_c_williams) December 2, 2015
#MarkZuckerberg sets great example w/ pledge 2 donate 99% of #FB shares.Disheartening he's publicly criticized bc he gets tax deduction.
— Leland Faust (@lelandfaust) December 2, 2015