Jack Dorsey, the founder and CEO of the Twitter social network, announced Tuesday that he is donating $ 1 billion (just over $ 900 million) to help fight the coronavirus pandemic. In a series of tweets, Jack Dorsey explains that this sum represents 28% of his fortune.
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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To reach this amount, he will gradually sell shares in his other company, Square, specializing in digital payment. His fortune is estimated by the American magazine Forbes at 3.3 billion dollars (3.04 billion euros).
Also read: Jack Dorsey, more and more alone at the head of Twitter
“When we defuse this pandemic, the money will be redirected to girls’ health and education, as well as universal income,” said the billionaire, who sees in these two areas potential solutions to the “problems the world is doing face”. While the economic crisis linked to Covid-19 has put millions of people out of work, universal income has sparked renewed interest from many politicians and businessmen. “It’s a great idea that needs to be tested,” he continues.
“Life is too short”
The funds will be allocated via its Start Small foundation, transparently. A spreadsheet he shared online indicates a first grant of $ 100,000 for the “American food fund.”
“It is important (that it is transparent) so that others and I can learn from it”, justifies the one who had given a third of his Twitter actions to his employees in 2016. “Why now? Because the needs are urgent and I want to see the effects during my life, ”says Jack Dorsey. “I hope this will inspire others. Life is too short, so let’s do everything we can to help people now. ”
Also read: Which society after the containment and the Covid-19 crisis?
Jeff Bezos, the boss of Amazon and the richest man in the world, announced on Instagram five days ago that he was giving 100 million dollars (92 million euros) to American food banks. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, and his wife Priscilla Chan have offered 25 million dollars (23 million euros) for research into treatments for the coronavirus.
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