Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.

Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter and Square, said Tuesday that he is devoting $1 billion of his stake in the mobile payments company, or 28 percent of his net worth, to help fund coronavirus relief efforts.

"I'm moving $1B of my Square equity (~28% of my wealth) to #startsmall LLC to fund global COVID-19 relief," Dorsey tweeted.

Full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak

Byers Market Newsletter Get breaking news and insider analysis on the rapidly changing world of media and technology right to your inbox. This site is protected by recaptcha

Dorsey's investment in coronavirus relief is the most significant financial pledge by a private individual to date. Several other current and former tech executives, including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, have each pledged $100 million.

Unlike other donors, Dorsey also promised to keep a consistently updated public record of all the donations.

Once the pandemic is over, Dorsey said, the rest of the $1 billion will be dedicated to "girl's health and education, and UBI," which is short for Universal Basic Income, a program that calls for each person to receive a certain amount of money from the government every month.

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

"Why UBI and girl's health and education? I believe they represent the best long-term solutions to the existential problems facing the world," he wrote.

Dorsey said he was pulling money from Square and not Twitter for a simple reason: "I own a lot more Square. And I'll need to pace the sales over some time."

Download the NBC News app for full coverage and alerts about the coronavirus outbreak

As for why he's making this investment now: "The needs are increasingly urgent," Dorsey wrote, "and I want to see the impact in my lifetime. I hope this inspires others to do something similar. Life is too short, so let's do everything we can today to help people now."