Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey on Tuesday announced that he was donating $1 billion of his personal fortune through his philanthropic funds to help fight the coronavirus pandemic.
The Twitter boss, in a series of tweets said that he was going to donate $1 billion worth of equity in his digital payments group Square to his limited liability corporation Start Small to fund COVID-19 relief around the world., which is about 28% of his overall wealth.
Dorsey said he was using shares of Square and not Twitter because he owned owned a lot more of them. And the shares will be sold over time, which could impact on their value and the overall size of donation.I’m moving $1B of my Square equity (~28% of my wealth) to #startsmall LLC to fund global COVID-19 relief. After we disarm this pandemic, the focus will shift to girl’s health and education, and UBI. It will operate transparently, all flows tracked here: https://t.co/hVkUczDQmz— jack (@jack) April 7, 2020
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"Why now? The needs are increasingly urgent, and i want to see the impact in my lifetime," said the 43-year-old who is the CEO of both Twitter and Square.
"I hope his inspires others to do something similar. Life is too short, so let's do everything we can today to help people now."
This donation is the largest from a single individual for coronavirus relief. Once the coronavirus pandemic has been "disarmed", the funds will go towards girls health and education and research into universal basic income.
The donations will be made through a limited liability company which is a tool many wealth individuals use for donations.....but is often criticized by the public for lack of transparency.
However, Dorsey has posted a link to a Google doc which will publicly track the funds donations. Dorsey's net worth is estimated at $3 billion including his stake in Twitter and Square.
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The Twitter and Square boss isn't the only tech billionaire who have pledged part of their wealth towards coronavirus relief.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has pledged $100 to help food and relief efforts during he pandemic, and Mark Zuckerberg has offered over $25 million to help research through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The Gates Foundation last month pledged about $125 million for research but is believed to be investing more in several ways.
Apple's chief executive Tim Cook in March announced that the company would donate medical supplies to Italy which has been ravaged by the virus.