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
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Tuesday pledged $1 billion toward coronavirus relief efforts — representing 28 percent of his wealth.
In a series of tweets, Dorsey said that the ten-figure sum would come out of his stake in Square, the payments processor he co-founded, rather than his Twitter shares.
“I own a lot more Square,” Dorsey explained in a follow-up tweet. “I’ll need to pace the sales over some time.”
“The impact this money will have should benefit both companies over the long-term because it’s helping the people we want to serve,” Dorsey said of his decision to give away close to one-third of his wealth. The money will be donated through his Start Small LLC charity fund.
“After we disarm this pandemic, the focus will shift to girl’s health and education, and UBI,” Dorsey tweeted, referring to the idea of creating a “universal basic income” for all citizens.
Those two issues, Dorsey said, “represent the best long-term solutions to the existential problems facing the world.”
Dorsey, who for years has kept details of his charitable efforts private, said all donations to and from the fund will now be visible to the public through public documents.
Dorsey’s announcement comes just days after Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos — the world’s richest man — donated $100 million to US food banks. The figure represents less than one-thousandth of one percent of Bezos’ $120 billion net worth, according to Forbes.
The United States has recorded more than 380,000 coronavirus cases, with the total death toll rising to about 12,300.