Jack Patrick Dorsey is an American internet entrepreneur known for founding Twitter. He is also a philanthropist and programmer. Dorsey is the president and CEO of the mobile payments company Block Inc. He is a co-founder and board member of Bluesky, PBLLC. Bluesky is an American social media platform that emerged from Twitter Inc. These companies, plus investments in Bitcoin, have built Jack Dorsey a net worth of $3.2 billion.
Explore Jack Dorsey’s wealth! Our analysis details his financial journey, investments, and charity work.
A Peek Into the Life of Jack Dorsey
Early Life and Path to Success
Jack Patrick Dorsey was born on November 19, 1976, to Marcia Dorsey and Tim Dorsey. Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Dorsey is a catholic of partly Italian descent. He has an uncle who is a catholic priest in Cincinnati, Ohio. His mother was a homemaker, while his father worked for a firm that made mass spectrometers.
Jack Dorsey attended Bishop DuBourg High School. He started college at Missouri University of Science and Technology in 1995. He studied at the University of Missouri–Rolla for two years. He transferred to New York University in 1997 and dropped out before graduation.
From an early age, Dorsey wanted to fix tech problems facing dispatch systems. He especially wanted to resolve the issue of communication. Dorsey believed taxi drivers ought to be able to communicate in real-time.
He coded his first project at 15, a dispatch software. At 17, he hacked the dispatch of a major taxicab company in New York City. Instead of manipulating the company, Dorsey communicated the vulnerability to the company CEO. The CEO offered him a job to fix the security problem. Dorsey moved to New York City, later joining NYU.
In the 1990s, during the dot-com bubble, Dorsey went to San Fransisco with his NYC boss. The two created a web business that died as soon as it started. Next, Jack Dorsey worked at Evan Williams’s Odeo. Evan Williams is famous for founding Blogger and, later, the blogging platform Medium. Odeo is a podcasting company.
In 2006, Jack Dorsey held a daylong brainstorming session with Christopher Isaac “Biz” Stone, Evan Williams, and Noah Glass. They were working on a feature product for Odeo. The idea that came out was a microblogging or messaging idea they labeled Project Twttr.
Dorsey tested the idea with Blackberry phones while at the university. He created a committee to work on the project that morphed into Twitter. Instead of incorporating the project with Odeo, Evan launched Twitter as a new company. He returned millions of dollars Odeo had invested into the project. When the platform became a massive success, the investors complained of having been conned out of the project.
Twitter marked Jack Dorsey’s leap into extreme wealth and success.
The Innovator Behind Twitter and Square
When Jack Dorsey and his team launched Twitter, it became a center for ridicule. Critics called it a tool the shallow-minded needed to broadcast their little lives to the world. The system was plagued with service outages, making it a pain to use.
With constant improvements, Twitter became stable. Soon, CEOs and celebrities began to use it. Twitter ceased being the blunt tool for the self-centered. The platform received its initial big break during the 2008 residential campaign.
President Barack Obama used the platform to communicate updates to his supporters. His Republican opponent followed suit and utilized Twitter as a campaign tool. Jack Dorsey was the Twitter’s first CEO. He led the company through two phases of funding from venture capitalists.
In 2009, Jack co-founded Square. He developed the idea out of the need to help his friend receive credit card payments. His friend, Jim McKelvey, could not sell his glass faucets because he did not accept credit cards.
McKelvey became a co-founder of the mobile financial service company. When you see a merchant swipe your card in a little squared card reader, that is Jack Dorsey’s Square. The squared tool is normally connected to an iPad or iPhone.
Square went public in 2015 with a market cap of $3 billion on its first day of trading. The company topped a market cap of $100 billion for the first time in 2021. At this time, most of Jack Dorsey’s net worth came from Square.
On December 1, 2021, Dorsey renamed Square to Block Inc. This was partly because of his interest in blockchain technology.
Inside Jack Dorsey’s Financial Triumph: Understanding His Net Worth
A Detailed Breakdown of Dorsey’s Wealth
In March 2023, Jack Dorsey’s net worth suffered a massive blow after he lost over $500 million in one day. This was after the tech entrepreneur was accused of fraud through his company, Block Inc. Block holds Square and Cash App. The report by Hindenburg Research accused Dorsey of misleading investors. Since Jack Dorsey’s primary source of income is his stake in the company, his net worth dropped by 11%.
Dorsey’s stake at Block is valued at around $3 billion. After selling his social media company, Twitter, to Elon Musk, Dorsey retained a stake worth around $388 million. Despite the hit, Dorsey always finds his way up. He has not attained his position among the top 500 billionaires, but he is still one of the richest entrepreneurs in the U.S.
Jack Dorsey is also quite philanthropic. He has given billions of dollars to charity foundations. He has donated to fund public school projects and environmental courses such as #TeamTrees. He committed a huge percentage of his stake at Block to coronavirus relief programs. He used his Start Small, LLC to donate $1 billion to COVID relief programs and related initiatives.
He also added a substantial amount to his net worth when he sold Twitter to his fellow tech guru, Elon Musk. Before Musk disclosed his 9% holding that ignited the sale, Twitter shares traded at $39.31. This put Jack’s holdings of 18,044,000 shares in the company at $709 million. Elon Musk paid $54.20 per share, bringing Dorsey’s stake a staggering $978 million.
The Role of Cryptocurrency in Dorsey’s Fortune
Jack Dorsey believes that cryptocurrency is the future of currency. He is certain that Bitcoin will replace the United States dollar to become the center of transactions. He is quite committed to making that happen.
Though there is not much information about the total Bitcoin he holds, he recently purchased 4.709 Bitcoin. He used his company Square to buy the $50 million Bitcoin. The financial services company believes that cryptocurrency is a tool for economic empowerment. He believes cryptocurrency allows the world to take part in a global monetary system. More importantly, the primary goal of cryptocurrency aligns with Square’s.
In 2021, Dorsey partnered with rapper Jay Z to create ₿trust. This is an endowment trust aimed at making Bitcoin an internet currency. The two put 500 Bitcoin, valued at $23.6 million in 2021, in the trust initially focused in Africa and India.
How Does Jack Dorsey Spend His Money?
Jack Dorsey’s Assets and Collections
Besides his investments in technology companies, Dorsey owns some real estate properties. In 2018, he paid $4.22 million for a home in Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles. He sold the house in 2019 for $4.5 million, making a profit of $250,000.
He also owns a $10 million home in San Francisco. He bought the house in 2012 and expanded to the next home by paying $22 million in 2017.
The Philanthropic Aspect of Jack Dorsey’s Wealth
In 2020, Dorsey moved $1 billion worth of his shares at Block to Start Small, LLC. He started the foundation to fund COVID-19 relief, health, women’s education, and universal basic income. He joined R&B singer Rihanna in 2022 to donate $15 million towards climate change.
The duo has collaborated through their foundations, Jack’s Start Small and Rihannas’s CLF. The two organizations have given combined donations totaling around 457 million. They donate to help low-income families and domestic violence survivors or victims.
Frequently Asked Questions about Jack Dorsey’s Net Worth
Why Did Jack Dorsey Sell Twitter to Elon Musk?
The Tesla and SpaceX boss says he bought Twitter because he had to. But Dorsey says he trusted Musk could run it better. Jack Dorsey said he trusted Elon Musk’s mission to extend the light of consciousness.
How Much Did Jack Dorsey Get from Selling Twitter?
During the sale of Twitter, its shares sold at $39.31 per share. This put Jack Dorsey’s stake in the company at $709 million. However, Musk offered to pay $54.20 per share, increasing Dorsey’s stake to $978 million.
Who is Jack Dorsey’s Wife?
Jack Dorsey is a 46-year-old entrepreneur with a net worth of $3.2 billion. According to the available information, Dorsey is unmarried and has not disclosed any plans to have children.
Final Thoughts on the Astounding Wealth of Jack Dorsey
Jack Dorsey is an American developer who built his multi-billion net worth running tech companies. He started by writing dispatch software and created one of the U.S.’s most profitable mobile payment companies.
At the beginning of his career, he hacked one of the largest taxi dispatch companies in New York City. From there, he just kept growing. Founding Twitter and Square, and building a net worth of $3.2 billion.
