- Indian billionaire Wipro founder Azim Premji has donated $132 million (Rs 1,000 crore) to Coronavirus causes and third-largest donors in World.
- Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has pledged to donate $1 billion, one-quarter of his fortune
- Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has donated $100 million so far
The pandemic coronavirus has wreaked havoc worldwide. More than 75,000 people worldwide have lost their lives due to the deadly virus and millions are still suffering. Many billionaires have come forward and contributed huge amounts to help the Government cope with this crisis.
Until the end of April, 77 billionaires had contributed to various causes related to coronavirus relief according to data collected by Forbes. Among these, the largest amount was donated by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Dorsey has pledged a $1 billion donation, a quarter of his fortune. He tweeted, “I transfer $1B of my Square equity (~28 percent of my wealth) to # start small LLC to fund global relief from COVID-19.”
Microsoft founder Bill Gates has contributed 255 million US dollars to causes related to Coronavirus along with his entrepreneur partner, Melinda Gates.
Only Indian on the List:
According to Forbes the third biggest donation comes from an Indian. US Billionaires dominate the list of top 10 private donations. Yet the only Indian on the list is IT Czar Premji. IT giant Wipro chairman donated $132 million (Rs 1,000 crore). He ranks third among the world’s wealthiest billionaires contributing to a pandemic relief for coronavirus.
Together the Azim Premji Foundation, Wipro, and Wipro Enterprises have pledged Rs 1,125 crore assistance to tackle the ongoing health and humanitarian crisis arising from the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Wipro ‘s contribution is Rs 100 crore, out of the Rs 1,125 crore. Although Rs 25 Crore has been invested by Wipro Enterprises, the Azim Premji Foundation is giving Rs 1,000 crore.
Other major private donations made thus far:
George Soros gave the fourth-largest private donation. The Hungarian-American billionaire has donated $130 million. The richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, is in the fifth position on the list. The Amazon CEO has donated $100 million so far.
The $100 million donations were made by Jeffrey Skoll, Founder and President, Participant Media of Skoll Foundation. The seventh-largest donation came from Andrew Forrest, an Australian businessman. Fortescue Metals Group ‘s former CEO has donated US$ 100 million.
US billionaire businessman Michael Dell, who is Dell Technologies’ chairman and CEO, has donated $100 million. Bloomberg’s shareholder and co-founder, Micheal Bloomberg, has donated $74.5 million. Lynn and Stacy Schusterman donated the tenth-largest private donation. US philanthropist contributed $70 million
