Mark Zuckerberg sold nearly $ 500 million worth of Facebook stock in February to fund his charity, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI).
The move comes as no surprise, as it is part of Zuckerberg's plan to accelerate the sale of shares to fund the initiative he set up in December 2015 with his wife Priscilla Chan.
Two announcements on Thursday showed that Zuckerberg sold 685.000 shares worth $ 125,4 million in the last three days of February, recording total monthly sales of about 2,7 million shares worth $ 482,2 million.
Zuckerberg said in September that he would sell 35 million to 75 million shares of Facebook stock over the next 18 months. That would amount to $ 13 billion, based on Facebook's current share price.
The Silicon Valley billionaire has said he will donate 99% of his shares to CZI - worth about $ 45 billion when the initiative is created.
It sold about $ 1,6 billion of the company's stock in 2016 and 2017, according to technology website Recode.
The Zuckerberg Foundation is similar to those founded by Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates and the Buffett Foundation, which was founded by billionaire Warren Buffett.