Mark Zuckerberg Is the Latest Billionaire to Take 'the Giving Pledge'

(Dec. 9) -- The Giving Pledge, a philanthropic initiative orchestrated by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates to encourage billionaires to donate a significant portion of their fortunes to charity, announced Thursday that it can count Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg among its newest pledge class of 16 billionaires, The Wall Street Journal reported.

But it turns out that giving away billions of dollars to charity isn't a foolproof method for winning universal praise. The Globe and Mail's Carl Mortished writes:

I can understand why Mr. Zuckerberg is eager to give away his money to a good cause, but I would rather he invested it in some amazing new enterprise. Walk away from Facebook and start again. If he really wants to help the poor, he should come up with a good idea that will make money, jobs and wealth.

Sadly, I reckon most of these would-be philanthropists only want to rid themselves of their monetary guilt. They hope that the Giving Pledge will wash away the dirt of money-making, absolve what sins they may have committed and they want [to] do it in a tax-efficient way because they know that the government may do even worse things with their money than would their feckless children. It's a terrible shame and a waste.

In addition to Buffett, Gates and Zuckerberg, other billionaires taking "the giving pledge" include:

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Film director George Lucas
Hotel heir Barron Hilton
Standard Oil heir David Rockefeller
Domino's Pizza founder Thomas Monaghan

One of America's youngest billionaires, Zuckerberg is already beginning to make substantial philanthropic efforts. The Facebook chief executive first showed off his charitable side by donating $100 million to Newark, N.J., schools last September.

Although Zuckerberg is still unmarried, perhaps he took one of Mayor Bloomberg's thoughts on his own fortune to heart. When asked what he thought of fellow billionaires abstaining from the pledge in favor of keeping their money in the family, Bloomberg responded, "You don't want [your children] to look back and say, 'I was a member of the lucky sperm club.'"

Zuckerberg is worth an estimated $6.9 billion.