Mark Zuckerberg has taken to Facebook to respond to criticisms of his plans to transfer 99% of his family's stock in Facebook into a limited liability company (LLC) to fund charitable projects.
He said that he and his wife, Dr Priscilla Chan were using a LLC rather than a traditional foundation as it gives them greater flexibility "to pursue our mission by funding nonprofit organisations, making private investments and participating in policy debates in each case with the goal of generating a positive impact in areas of great need."
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A note from Mark thanking the community for all the well wishes, and providing more detail on our focus areas and how we're structuring our work
Posted by Chan Zuckerberg Initiative on Thursday, 3 December 2015
The post addressed critics who said that he intended to use the LLC to avoid taxes on his stocks worth $45bn.
“In fact, if we transferred our shares to a traditional foundation, then we would have received an immediate tax benefit, but by using an LLC we do not. And just like everyone else, we will pay capital gains taxes when our shares are sold by the LLC,” he wrote.
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A few weeks before Max's birth, Priscilla and I took a morning to reflect and record our hopes for her and all children of her generation.It will be deeply meaningful to show this to her one day. I'll share more soon.
Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday, 2 December 2015
While charitable foundations are tax-exempt, they face restrictions which curb for-profit ventures and the sponsoring of political activities. It is likely that some of the Facebook founder's money will be used for these kinds of projects.
