Asset Protection Lawyers in Pasadena Discuss Mark Zuckerberg’s Estate Planning
Mark Zuckerberg Did Not Pledge 99% of His Facebook Stock to Charity — Here’s What He Did Instead + What He Could Do Even Better
When we heard that Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, were donating 99 percent of their Facebook shares — currently worth more than $45 billion — to charity, I immediately assumed they had been the beneficiaries of smart family wealth planning advice and would be funding a private foundation that could be used to save money on taxes and educate their daughter about giving.
But that’s not what they did at all. (And it’s quite surprising that respected publications like the New York Times and Forbes would get it so wrong with both publications touting Zuckerberg and Chan for their hefty “donation to charity.”)
There’s no charity happening here. And there’s nothing that says Mark and Priscilla are donating 99% of their Facebook stock to charity, ever.
To a mission, yes. But to a charity? No.
In an open letter to their daughter, Mark and Priscilla said they would give away 99% of their FB stock over their lifetime to advance the mission of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative LLC.
Specifically:
As you begin the next generation of the 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.
An SEC filing on the same day said that Zuckerberg would sell or gift no more than $1B of FB stock each year for the next three years.
