9 December 2010 Last updated at 22:05 GMT

Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has become one of the latest billionaires to pledge to give away the majority of his wealth. 

He is one of 17 new people to support a group, founded by Bill Gates and his wife along with Warren Buffett, which encourages America's wealthiest to publicly promise to donate to charity.

At 26, Mark Zuckerberg is one of the youngest to sign up.

Earlier this year, he gave $100m in shares to schools in New Jersey.

"People wait until late in their career to give back. But why wait when there is so much to be done?" he asked 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."

Mr Zuckerberg, estimated to be worth $6.9bn (£4.4bn), was placed 35th in this year's Forbes list of the richest people in the US.

The Giving Pledge initiative was launched earlier this year. It was announced in August that 40 individuals or families had made the pledge.
 


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Facebook founder Zuckerberg to give away most of wealth