Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that he is giving away 99 percent of his Facebook shares in celebration of the birth of his first child.

The 31-year old tech billionaire and his wife, Priscilla Chan, made the announcement as part of an open letter dedicated to their newborn daughter, Maxima Chan Zuckerberg.

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"For your generation to live in a better world, there is so much more our generation can do," Zuckerberg wrote. "Today your mother and I are committing to spend our lives doing our small part to help solve these challenges."

Max’s birth also marks the founding of Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, an organization that aims to unite people from all over the world, improve human potential, and raise awareness on equality for the next generation.

The Facebook CEO stated that the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will focus on education and health.

Zuckerberg said that he will remain as the CEO of Facebook for many years to come; however, these issues should be emphasized for their importance.

Based on his Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, Zuckerberg owns a total of 419 million Facebook shares. With Facebook share prices valued at $107.12 at Tuesday's closing, the newly-formed initiative will be worth $44.3 billion. He will retain a total of $449 million worth of shares.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy editor Stacy Palmer said that U.S. charities donate about $350 billion annually, Reuters reported. Palmer pointed out that the Zuckerberg couple’s announcement is not just noteworthy for its amount but also because for their ages.

"Our lists of the top donors are usually dominated by people in their 70s or 80s," said Palmer. "This is a message to other young people who are deciding what to do with their great wealth."

According to Huffington Post, the announcement created a strong statement as the wealthiest business leaders are now imposing a challenge to one another to donate part of their fortune to charities.

Zuckerberg is not new to charitable acts. He has been an advocate of education and health for a couple of years now. Based on his track record, as reported by Bloomberg, he and his wife recently started a school for less-fortunate families in Silicon Valley; another recipient of their charitable acts is a trauma center at the San Francisco General Hospital.

Zuckerberg also recently teamed up with Microsoft's Bill Gates, Amazon's Jeff Besos, Alibaba's Jack Ma, and other tech leaders in pouring huge money into climate research through the Breakthrough Energy Initiative.

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