Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said Tuesday he is setting aside nearly $1 billion of his wealth to aid in the fight against the novel coronavirus.
Dorsey said on his social media platform that the funds will come from his equity in Square, a mobile merchant payments firm that he founded in addition to Twitter.
“LET’S DO EVERYTHING WE CAN TO HELP PEOPLE”
The funds, totaling about $998 million, represent about 28% of his overall wealth, Dorsey said.
They will go into a limited liability firm that he founded called Start Small, which will then make grants to beneficiary organizations that can be tracked on a publicly-available Google document.
“After we disarm this pandemic, the focus will shift to girls’ health and education and UBI,” he said, using an acronym that refers to a universal basic income. “It will operate transparently.”
Explaining why the funds will shift to these areas, Dorsey said in follow-on tweets that he believes “they represent the best long-term solutions to the existential problems facing the world.” “The needs are increasingly urgent, and I want to see the impact in my lifetime. I hope this inspires others to do something similar. Life is too short, so let’s do everything we can today to help people now,” he said.