Twitter Inc Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey on Tuesday (April 7) pledged $1 billion of his stake in Square Inc, the payments processor that he co-founded and heads, to help fund relief efforts related to the CCP virus pandemic.
In a series of tweets, Dorsey said the amount, representing about 28 percent of his wealth, will be donated to his charity fund, Start Small LLC, which would later focus its attention on universal basic income and girls’ health and education.
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
Why is #startsmall a LLC? This segments and dedicates my shares to these causes, and provides flexibility. Grants will be made from Start Small Foundation or the LLC directly based on the beneficiary org. All transfers, sales, and grants will be made public in tracking sheet.
— jack (@jack) April 7, 2020
Dorsey, who for years has kept details of his charitable efforts private, said all donations to and from the fund would now be visible to the public at all times through a public document.
Why pull just from Square and not Twitter? 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.
— jack (@jack) April 7, 2020
Dorsey, whose net worth is estimated at $3.3 billion by Forbes, also said that he was pledging his stake in Square instead of Twitter because he owns a bigger portion of the payments processor.
He also said that he would pace the sale of the pledged shares over time.
The United States has recorded more than 380,000 cases of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus, with the total death toll rising to about 12,300.
By Shariq Khan
NTD staff contributed to this report.
