Earth’s Mightiest Billionaires Against the Pandemic
News Outlets and Social Media Sites have been reporting every bit of development regarding the COVID-19 Pandemic. However, there have been a minority that asks the question: Where are the billionaires? With wealth that big, what are they doing to aid countries against COVID-19? Here are the earth’s mightiest and wealthiest and their response to the pandemic.
Despite losing the top spot to Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, the second wealthiest man in the world has not stopped his philanthropic works. As part of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the couple has pledged over $100 Million to aid in global detection of the Virus. $50 Million was allotted for the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator, a program which enables 12 companies and pharmaceuticals to pursue a vaccine for the virus with the catch being: The vaccine must be accessible and affordable for all.
On top of the corporate fund established for small businesses, Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chen have added $25 Million to Gates’ program for pursuing a vaccine for the virus.
Jack Ma, China’s second wealthiest businessman and founder of Alibaba Group Inc. has donated over 500,000 testing kits and 1 Million Face Masks to the U.S. This is just part of his donations, he made separate donations to other countries including the Philippines and Russia.
Airbnb’s CEO, Brian Chesky has announced in March that those who booked their stays between March 14 to April 14 are allowed to file for refund without any hidden charges. This offer is for all app users around the world.
Elon Musk, despite making several questionable comments against the stay at home orders, has purchased over 1,000 ventilators from China. These ventilators were donated to Los Angeles, California while an additional 50,000 N95 masks were donated to Seattle, Washington. Musk also pledged on twitter that SpaceX and Tesla would be shifting their efforts to manufacture ventilators using the companies’ expertise should there be any shortages in the supply of the machines.
These are just some of the most popular businessmen who have stepped up in the fight against the virus. How about you? How did you contribute in your own ways?
