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Private companies step in to source protective gear

Marc Benioff, the billionaire founder of Salesforce, is leading a group of companies buying piles of personal protective equipment for hospitals. Within weeks of being asked for help in mid-March, he has spent more than $25 million to source more than 50 million pieces of equipment, David Gelles of The Times writes.

A 25-person “Maskforce” team at Salesforce is coordinating the effort. The company’s partnership with the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba proved crucial — a call from Mr. Benioff to the Alibaba chief Daniel Zhang set the plan in motion.

After vetting Chinese suppliers of masks, gowns, face shields and swabs, another call by Mr. Benioff, to the FedEx C.E.O. Fred Smith, secured planes and trucks for distribution. As David writes:

The relative ease with which Salesforce acquired so much protective gear stands in sharp contrast to the often chaotic government efforts. While states have had to compete against each other for scarce supplies and the strategic national stockpile of protective gear is depleted, Mr. Benioff and his team simply called up their business partners in China and started writing checks.

Other Silicon Valley chiefs are tapping their connections. Tim Cook of Apple sourced 20 million masks and Jack Dorsey of Twitter pledged $1 billion to coronavirus relief programs.

• A group of financiers has teamed up with scientists to create a “Manhattan Project for Covid-19,” The Wall Street Journal reports, and their recommendations have gained traction at the White House.