Twitter's Jack Dorsey to give a third of his stake to employees

Twitter chief executive and co-founder Jack Dorsey has said he is giving a third of his stock in the company, about one per cent, to the employee equity pool. The move to give a part of his stake, worth $197 million as of July 28, was to "reinvest directly in our people", tweeted Dorsey, named the company's permanent chief executive earlier this month.

Twitter did not comment on the move.

Dorsey is working to rebuild employee morale and confidence at Twitter, following a spate of high-level departures through the past several months. Last week, he announced the company would lay off 336 employees, about eight per cent of its workforce, in an attempt to streamline Twitter's products and teams.

LOOSENING THE PURSE STRINGS

• 3.2% Dorsey’s stake in Twitter
• $197 million Worth of the stock Dorsey is giving away
• 336 Employees would be laid off, Dorsey had said last week
• 10% Of Square, co-founded by Dorsey, would be given to a charity foundation
• 15 million The number of shares already given away by Dorsey to Square and the charity foundation

Dorsey, who took charge as interim chief executive 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 concern among investors about whether he could run both Twitter and mobile payments company Square Inc, which he co-founded.

In Square's filing for an initial public offering earlier this month, Dorsey disclosed he planned to donate 40 million shares, or 10 per cent of the company, to a charity foundation he started, which invested in artists, musicians and local businesses. He had already given away about 15 million shares to both Square and the charity foundation, he added.

Last week, former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said he had acquired four per cent stake in Twitter, making him the third-biggest individual shareholder in the social media company. Ballmer owns more of Twitter than Dorsey, who has a 3.2 per cent stake, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Dorsey, in his second stint as chief executive at Twitter, has rolled out a 'buy now' button that allows users to make purchases, as well as a feature that shows users the site's best tweets and content, as curated by a Twitter team.