The Silicon Valley billionaires have been vocal in their support to fight the pandemic. They are donating hundreds of millions to the cause.
In times of crisis, such as the Coronavirus pandemic, money is key to solve the problem. Without enough money, the medical problem caused by the virus transforms into a social and economic problem.
These two latter problems are, in fact, harder to solve than the medical trouble that the virus is causing.
Luckily for the majority of people, the Silicon Valley head honchos have pooled in their efforts to help prevent the problem from getting bigger. In their own ways, the presidents of these global conglomerates have donated their personal fortunes to the cause.
Jack Dorsey donates $1 billion
Just last week, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has announced that he shall be committing one billion dollars to fight problems caused by the Coronavirus. The total estimated value of the donation is just under 30% of his total net value.
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
The donation does come with a controversy looming against it. In a report by Owen Thomas of the San Francisco Chronicles, the commitment of $1 billion dollars from Jack Dorsey is just an added amount to an unfulfilled promise.
The donation can be tracked in a publicly accessible sheet provided by Jack Dorsey himself. As of writing, only $2.2 million have been disbursed.
Jeff Bezos pledges $100 million
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos have also joined in on the philanthropic donations during this crisis. The amount he committed is estimated to be just under 1/10th percent of his total net value, which is at $123 billion.
It has already been reported that Amazon has also kick-started a fund to help its seasonal and contractual employees pull through this tough time.
Unfortunately, his donations and actions also do come with controversy. Amazon warehouses across the United States are reportedly not taking the Coronavirus seriously. Warehouse men are clamoring that the company implements measures to prevent the disease from spreading further.
Bill Gates continues his foundation’s mission
Bill Gates has just recently stepped down as a member of the board in Microsoft. He promised to focus more on his philanthropic priorities.
At present, Bill Gates has pledged $100 million to fight the Coronavirus. He has channeled most part of this through his own Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The pledge is estimated to be just 0.99% of his total net value.
His focus now is to fund construction of factories that might be able to help in mass-producing vaccines against the Coronavirus. At present, the human testing phase has started for the vaccines, and Gates hopes that this vaccine can be manufactured soon.