Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2010/12/09/mark_zuckerberg_to_give_away_fortune/

Facebook boydroid to hand over theoretical riches to charity

It's like Bill Gates2.0 – the movie!

By Kelly Fiveash

Posted in On-Prem, 9th December 2010 13:43 GMT

Mark Zuckerberg clearly has more invisible money than he knows what to do with, given that the Web2.0 paper billionaire has agreed to offload most of his wealth to charity.

The Facebook founder's philanthropic assertion echoes that of tech titan Bill Gates and in fact was instigated by the Microsoft chairman's own "Giving Pledge" organisation, which Zuck has signed up to.

The 26-year-old joins 16 new billionaires that have agreed to be generous with their wealth, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Gates, who is the second richest person on the planet with a net worth of $53bn, started the Giving Pledge with his best mate – billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

The effort to get very rich folk to part with lots of cash now has over 50 billionaires signed up to it, including Oracle founder Larry Ellison and Star Wars film director George Lucas.

Zuckerberg was recently added to Forbe's list of wealthy Americans and is now considered to have a net worth of $6.9bn. $4bn of this sum was added to his personal treasury just this year...

But Facebook isn't listed on Wall Street yet, so much of that wealth is simply estimated. All of which leaves us wondering if Zuck will change his mind about the pledge if his real world fortunes were to plummet? ®