Jack Dorsey, Twitter chief executive and co-founder, tweeted on Friday that he is giving a third of his stock in the company, about 1%, to the employee equity pool.
The move, worth $197 million as of July 28, is to “reinvest directly in our people,” Dorsey, who was named as the company’s permanent CEO earlier this month, said in a tweet.
Twitter did not comment further on the move.
The unusual move comes as Dorsey works to rebuild employee morale and confidence at Twitter after a spate of high-level departures over the past several months.
He announced last week that the company would lay off 336 employees, about 8% of its workforce, in an attempt to streamline Twitter’s products and teams.
Dorsey, who took over as interim CEO in July after Dick Costolo resigned, also tweeted “I’d rather have a smaller part of something big than a bigger part of something small.”
His appointment raised concerns among investors about whether he could run both Twitter and mobile payments company Square, which he co-founded.
Dorsey disclosed in Square’s IPO filing earlier this month that he plans to donate 40 million shares, or 10% of the company, to a charity foundation he started that invests in artists, musicians and local businesses.
Inputs from agencies
