Mark Zuckerberg and wife announce baby girl and charity give-away

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan have announced the birth of their daughter Max and said they will give away 99% of their shares in the company to good causes, international media report.

Zuckerberg made the announcement in a letter to Max on his Facebook page, where he also said they are donating their fortune to the Chan Zuckerberg initiative because they want to make the world a better place for Max to grow up in.

In the letter, the couple said that the aim of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is "to advance human potential and promote equality for all children in the next generation", and its initial areas of focus will be personalised learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities.

The donation, which amounts to $45bn at Facebook's current value, will not be donated to charity immediately and all at once, but over the course of the couple's lives.

Although Max was born last week, her birth was only made public on Tuesday.

"Your mother and I don't yet have the words to describe the hope you give us for the future," Zuckerberg said at the start of his letter to Max

“Like all parents, we want you to grow up in a world better than ours today…. We will do our part to make this happen, not only because we love you, but also because we have a moral responsibility to all children in the next generation,” the letter reads