[Sesay:] The image of a special baby is filling news feeds on social media. Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, and his wife, Priscilla, are now proud parents of a baby girl, their first child, born early last week. The couple said they plan to donate 99 percent of their Facebook stock to charity during their lifetime. They say they want to leave the world a better place for their daughter and all children. Their shares are currently valued at $45 billion. Wow. Well, joining me to discuss Zuckerberg's generous donation is Kim Lachance Shandrow, a senior writer at entrepreneur.com, and often writes about technology and social media issues. Kim, thank you so much for joining us. This donation, this pledge by the Zuckerbergs is in line to be among the world's largest. Put this in context for us.
[Kim Lachance Shandrow, Senior Writer, Entrepreneur.com:] Well, I think what they're looking to do is to inspire other young entrepreneurs, but particularly the sort of elites in silicone valley that are in a position to give to the level that they have. I think they're making a statement. They're very young. Zuckerberg is 31. His wife is 30 and they're looking to basically show the world that you can make a statement and give at a scale that hasn't really been seen before with people this young. So they're looking to inspire a future generation.
[Sesay:] And this is the perspective that he was a member of the Gates and Buffetts giving pledge where he said he would give most of his money but now they've stepped it up to this 99 percent of their shares. I think it is interesting in the way they've chosen to distribute their money through their own personal foundation. What do you make of that?
[Lachance Shandrow:] Well, actually, they have more control over how the money is disbursed in that case. It's not a nonprofit. So what they can do is they can do investments with companies. They can lobby this way with legislation and they can also basically disperse it in a way that will let them impact public policy. So they have more control and they have more control over how often they give. So they're looking to do 10, 25 and 100 year increments.
[Sesay:] Very interesting. I have to say, when I went online and looked at the reaction to the announcement, there is some cynicism in some quarters. You know, surrounding the fact that when rich people give money to charity, the point cannot be ignored that they also benefit by the tax deductions.
[Lachance Shandrow:] Yes, absolutely. They are going to be saving a lot of money in taxes by doing this. And I think they also took advantage of it being Tuesday and of a press moment. They were able to sort of polish their brand, but it was also a little bit some of the timing as one of my colleagues pointed out today in entrepreneur.com, the timing was a little bit it left a little bit of a bad taste in several people's mouths today because they showed their daughter so publicly, max, born a week ago and the first image of her out there in the world is essentially at the top of what amounted to a press release about the Zuckerberg Foundation. So it was odd in how it came out.
[Sesay:] You mentioned the personal brand. The personal brand is boosted by acts of philanthropy. What about the business side of things? Is there a boost to business? Does it burnish the Facebook brand and anyone else at that level who has a business and gives at this level?
[Lachance Shandrow:] I think definitely. I think, you know, social good is an important it's important to show the world that you care for others. It's also very convenient, though, to spread experience access across the globe, which has been something that Zuckerberg has been championing for so long. So I think this makes it extends his business brand, but I think it might have turned off some of the users in the way this all came to light today.
[Sesay:] One last question to you, as someone who watches the scene, it seems to be, you know, quite commonplace, so it's happening with some regularity, if you will. That people or wealthy people are giving big. Let's just put it that way.
[Lachance Shandrow:] Absolutely.
[Sesay:] Why is that? What's going on? How do you read the times we're living in?
[Lachance Shandrow:] Well, sometimes I feel it might look on the outside like they're trying to outdo each other, we have a lot of money and they lived big. So I think there's a lot of sincerity behind Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla. I think being bill gates is one of his mentors, I think he was inspired by him. I think they're close with the gates. I think this is extending that theme out to other people and letting them know that, yes, if you have the means, you should give. But it certainly doesn't hurt that you're going to get a tax break at the same time, and lest we should forget that.
[Sesay:] Lest we should forget that. Kim Lachance Shandrow, thank you for coming in. Thank you.
[Lachance Shandrow:] Thank you, Isha. It's been great.
[Sesay:] And you are watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay. For our viewers in the U.S., "Amanpour" is next. Everyone else, the news continues with Rosemary Church right after this.