Jack Dorsey, CEO of blogging platform Twitter and fintech company Square (pictured), became the latest high-profile tech industry executive to put his money where his mouth is, donating $1 billion towards Covid-19 (coronavirus) relief efforts.
In a series of Twitter posts, Dorsey said the donation will come from his Square equity and was around 28 per cent of his net wealth.
The decision to use shares of Square instead of Twitter was because he owned “a lot more” of them. Dorsey said he planned to sell them over time and expected the impact of the sum to “benefit both companies over the long-term because it’s helping the people we want to serve”.
Dorsey’s contribution will be conducted through his Start Small Foundation. “After we disarm this pandemic” the fund will focus on girls’ health and education initiatives, along with research into the idea of a universal basic income, allowing people to receive periodic payment regardless of employment status.
The executive pledged make public all transfers, sales and grants in a tracking spreadsheet.
Dorsey explained he made the donation now as needs were “increasingly urgent, and I want to see the impact in my lifetime”, while expressing hope others would follow in his footsteps.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Apple chief Tim Cook and Amazon head Jeff Bezos have recently made similar moves into tackling the outbreak.
![\"IT電腦補習](\"http://itteacheritfreelance.hk/test/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/logo2-2.png\"){kind=logo}
www.itsec.hk
www.itsec.vip
www.itseceu.uk