"I'm going to donate $ 1 billion from my actions at Square to finance the fight against the Covid-19," said Jack Dorsey's Twitter account. The founder and leader of the social network announced Tuesday April 7 that he would donate 28% of his fortune to help manage the health crisis.

To reach this amount, the Twitter co-founder will gradually sell shares in his other company: Square, specializing in digital payment. Forbes estimates that Jack Dorsey's fortune is $ 3.3 billion.

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

Transparency

The funds will be allocated via its Start Small foundation, transparently. A spreadsheet he shared online indicates a first grant of 100,000 dollars for the "American food fund".

"It's important [to be transparent] so that others and I can learn from it," said the man who gave his employees a third of his Twitter actions 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."

Universal income

"When we defuse this pandemic, the money will be redirected to girls' health and education, as well as universal income," added the billionaire. He sees in these areas potential solutions to the "problems the world faces".

Universal income has sparked renewed interest from many politicians and businessmen, while the economic crisis linked to Covid-19 has put millions of people out of work. "It's a great idea that needs to be tested," he continues.

Jeff Bezos, the boss of Amazon and the richest man in the world, announced on Instagram on April 3 that he was donating $ 100 million to American food banks. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, and his wife Priscilla Chan donated $ 25 million for research into treatments for the coronavirus.

With AFP

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