Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey pledges $1B to coronavirus relief

Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey said in a tweet Tuesday that he'll be moving $1 billion of his Square equity to fund relief for COVID-19, the disease caused by the newly identified coronavirus.

After the pandemic passes, he added, the money will fund girls' health and education, as well as universal basic income.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey pledges $1B to coronavirus relief Picture 1 Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey pledges $1B to coronavirus relief Picture 1

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

Dorsey shared a Google Sheets link where people can track where the money goes.

"Why pull just from Square and not Twitter?" Dorsey wrote in a follow-up tweet. "Simply: I own a lot more Square. And 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."

Tech companies that have contributed to COVID-19 relief efforts include Apple, which reportedly doubled its donations to China's fight against the outbreak, and Samsung, which is providing funding and medical supplies as well as donating its phones to quarantined patients. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said it's donating $100 million to coronavirus treatment, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative said it'll give $25 million to help fight COVID-19. Additionally, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is donating $100 million to food banks in the US.