Twitter Boss Jack Dorsey Donates IDR 16 Trillion For Handling COVID-19
JAKARTA - Twitter founder and CEO Jack Dorsey is rumored to be contributing US $ 1 billion or the equivalent of Rp.16 trillion for the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The total money that he dirogohnya from his personal pocket or a third of the total wealth of Jack Dorsey today.
Through his official Twitter account, Dorsey said the amount represented around 28 percent of his wealth coming from shares in payment company Square and would be used to set up a Limited Liability Company (LLC) dubbed Start Small, as quoted by BBC International, Thursday, April 9.
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
Through Start Small, it will distribute aid to those affected by COVID-19. Dorsey said that all records of expenses and assistance distributed by Start Small can be accessed by the public in the form of Google documents.
Where all this time, he has often kept his efforts secret for activities. The company will also focus on universal basic income (UBI), girls' health and education.
"Why UBI, girls 'health and education? I believe they represent the best long-term solutions to existential problems facing the world. UBI is a great idea that requires experimentation. Girls' health and education are very important to balance," tweeted Dorsey.
Not only that, the founder of the micro blogging service, whose net worth is estimated at US $ 3.3 billion, according to Forbes, also promised his stake in Square because he has more than enough shares.
The 43-year-old also said that having a separate LLC allows him specifically to dedicate his stake to a cause. Start Small will distribute grants directly to those in need.
In the past, Dorsey has been caught donating US $ 40 million but did not give his name. Going forward, all grant information will become transparent meaning that others can see this and make it a good inspiration.
Since its founding in 2009 by Dorsey and Jim McKelvey, Square has continued to grow its market share as an alternative payment company to traditional payment infrastructure. In 2013, Square launched the Cash App, a mobile application that allows users to transfer money and invest in it.
"I hope this inspires others to do the same. Life is too short, so let's do all we can today to help people today," said Dorsey.
Seeing this, many claim that Dorsey is said to be following the charity model adopted by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan. The two founded the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in the form of an LLC which saves most of their wealth in funding charities.
Jack Dorsey is not one of the founders of a technology company that helps when the COVID-19 pandemic is rampant globally, previously Mark Zuckerberg also contributed US $ 30 million, mostly focused on efforts to make medicine.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has also donated $ 100 million to a US food bank to help those struggling with hunger during this pandemic. Apple chief executive Tim Cook announced in March that his company would donate medical supplies to Italy which is battling the deadly virus.
However, Dorsey's move also received various praise from some of the technology founders as well. Like the CEO of Medium and co-founder of Twitter, Ev Williams, and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, who tweeted "My man !."
Billionaire hedge fund Michael Novogratz says Dorsey's plan is "It's amazing. I love Jack." Dan Changpeng Zhao, CEO of cryptocurrency giant Binance, also praised Dorsey.