Forbes: [2] Zhang Yiming, the 36-year-old Chinese billionaire founder of social media app TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, has pledged $10 million to the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator, a project founded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Other donors to the Accelerator include the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, and singer Madonna. [3] “While [Zhang] has met Bill Gates a couple of times in passing, he does not know him well but has tremendous respect for Bill and Melinda Gates’ systematic approach and ongoing efforts in contributing to philanthropy,” a spokesperson for Zhang said.
“He sees them as an inspiration for all entrepreneurs fortunate enough to be in a position to give back to the community.”

The Accelerator was launched in March as a $125 million fund, initially backed by the Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and Mastercard. In early April, Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan’s philanthropic arm CZI announced a $25 million gift to the fund. The U.K. government and Madonna also became donors; the size of their gifts were undisclosed.