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Facebook's Zuckerberg to donate bulk of wealth to charity

Joins Giving Pledge: "Why wait when there is so much to be done?"

Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg is to give over 50 percent of his wealth to philanthropic causes.

The 26 year old co-creator of the social network is one of 17 new tycoons signing up to The Giving Pledge, a charity foundation orchestrated by Microsoft's Bill Gates and tycoon Warren Buffet.

Also joining Zuckerberg this year is another Facebook co-founder, Dustin Moskovitz, and AOL creator Steve Case, with the now 57-strong roster also including George Lucas and Oracle founder Larry Ellison.

The extent of the donation pledged by Zuckerberg is unknown, especially as the bulk of his fortune is tied up in Facebook assets. However, the Pledge requires that "more than half"of its members' personal wealth is given.

"People wait until late in their career to give back. But why wait when there is so much to be done?," Zuckerberg said in a statement.

"With a generation of younger folks who have thrived on the success of their companies, there is a big opportunity for many of us to give back earlier in our lifetime and see the impact of our philanthropic efforts."

In September, Zuckerberg pledged $100 million of his fortune to help Newark-area schools.

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Alec Meer

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A 10-year veteran of scribbling about video games, Alec primarily writes for Rock, Paper, Shotgun, but given any opportunity he will escape his keyboard and mouse ghetto to write about any and all formats.

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