Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey pledges $1 billion to coronavirus relief

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is putting a massive $1 billion toward coronavirus relief, he announced on Tuesday.

Dorsey in a tweet thread said he's moving $1 billion of his equity in Square, the mobile payments company he's also the CEO of, to an LLC called Start Small. This LLC will provide funding to global COVID-19 relief efforts, he said.

"After we disarm this pandemic, the focus will shift to girl's health and education, and UBI," Dorsey added.

Dorsey, who said the $1 billion is about 28 percent of his wealth, also shared a sheet on Twitter that he said will keep track of the donations.

"Why now?" he wrote. "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."

Among those who previously announced donations amid the coronavirus crisis is Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who recently said he'd give $100 million to food banks. "Even in ordinary times, food insecurity in American households is an important problem, and unfortunately COVID-19 is amplifying that stress," Bezos said. But Dorsey's donation, Recode wrote, is "the country's most significant private gift to tackling the coronavirus and its consequences."

More stories from theweek.com
The coming backlash against the public health experts
Dr. Anthony Fauci cautiously predicts kids will return to school next fall, 'but it's going to be different'
Boris Johnson remains in intensive care but is 'improving,' U.K. official says