Tech billionaire, Jack Ma has pledged $14.5 million towards fighting the coronavirus outbreak. Reputed to be China’s richest man, the founder of ecomm
Tech billionaire, Jack Ma has pledged $14.5 million towards fighting the coronavirus outbreak. Reputed to be China’s richest man, the founder of ecommerce giant Alibaba, will donate the money through his eponymous charitable foundation to support the development of a coronavirus vaccine.
In a post on its weibo account, Ma’s foundation said it has donated 100 million yuan to “support the development of a coronavirus vaccine. We know that the battle between humanity and disease is a long journey. This money will help various medical research efforts and help disease prevention.”
Numerous tech companies in China have also pledged assistance. While Tencent has donated 300 million yuan ($43.5 million) of goods and will provide mapping and data services, Baidu and TikTok owner ByteDance are also contributing financial aid. Outside China, Bill and Melinda Gates hav pledged $10m in emergency funds to frontline responders in China and Africa.
The coronavirus first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019 and has since spread to at least 15 countries killing almost 200 people with 7,711 confirmd infection cases in China alone.
