Twitter founder pledges $1 billion to fight coronavirus

Twitter Inc Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey 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 coronavirus pandemic.

In a series of tweets, Dorsey said the amount, representing about 28% of his wealth, will be donated to his charity fund, Start Small LLC, which would later focus its attention to universal basic income and girls' health and education.

Dorsey said all donations to and from the fund would now be visible to the public at all times through a public document, Reuters reported.

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.