Priscilla Chan: Who is Mark Zuckerberg's Wife, How Did She Build Her Fortune?

(Photo : Photo by Ian Tuttle/Getty Images for Breakthrough Prize)
Priscilla Chan, most popular for being the wife of Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, continues to work as a pediatrician despite having an estimated net worth of $50 billion. She has also dedicated the majority of her wealth to various charities.

Priscilla Chan, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's wife, has made a name for herself separate from her husband, but how exactly did she build her fame and fortune?

The 36-year-old American philanthropist is a pediatrician by profession whose parents were Chinese refugees who escaped Vietnam using boats. Chan grew up speaking both Cantonese and English.

Zuckerberg's wife graduated in 2003 as class valedictorian and became the highest-ranking student among her peers. Her fellow students also voted her as a "class genius" due to her intellect.

Priscilla Chan's Net Worth

She then attended Harvard University where she met and later started dating the Facebook founder. After finishing her studies and graduating with a BA in biology in 2007, Chan continued her education and finished her pediatric residency in 2015.

Chan and Zuckerberg dated for 9 years before they decided to get married in 2012. The couple announced the birth of their first daughter, Max, on Dec. 1, 2015. And on Aug. 28, 2017, the two announced the birth of their second child, August, as per The Sun.

The couple is known for founding the philanthropic limited liability company Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative in 2015, its charitable arm, the Chan-Zuckerberg Foundation, and its political Chan-Zuckerberg Advocacy.

Chan was born in Braintree, Massachusetts, to a low-income immigrant family and previously worked as an elementary school teacher after graduating college. Despite being married to the founder of the largest social media platform in the world, Chan reveals very little about her private life.

Over the course of their lifetimes, Chan and Zuckerberg have pledged to donate 99% of their Facebook stock, which has an estimated value of $45 billion in 2015, and roughly $100 billion as of December 2020.

According to InfluenceWatch, the Initiative's tax implications as an LLC differ from standard non-profit organizations. Stock given to the Initiative will not result in tax credits and will continue to be under Zuckerberg and Chan's control throughout their ownership of the Initiative.

Significant Fortune

However, when either of the two decides to liquidate or contribute the shares for direct grants, they will then be eligible for tax benefits. Furthermore, if they choose to transfer their wealth in company shares to the Initiative, the couple can avoid paying estate taxes on their wealth in the future upon their deaths.

Combining all of her efforts and endeavors, Chan has an estimated net worth of $50 billion, which is primarily due to her marriage to Zuckerberg, who is one of the richest people in the world. She has pledged more than $4.6 billion with her husband to various charities, with some of their more notable donations being made to the San Francisco General Hospital and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

The couple has significant real estate holdings and spent nearly $60 million in 2019 on two adjacent properties in Lake Tahoe. Chan and Zuckerberg, after buying property in Palo Alto, spent more than $30 million to purchase their neighbor's homes to create a greater barrier to privacy. The two own in total 10 separate properties in four different regions: Palo Alto, San Francisco, Hawaii, and California, Celebrity Net Worth reported.