Twitter Inc Chief Executive and co-founder Jack Dorsey said he is giving a third of his stock in the company, about 1 per cent, 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 on Thursday.
Twitter did not comment further on the move.
The unusual move comes as Dorsey works to rebuild employee morale and confidence 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 per cent 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 saying "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. Square filed for an IPO on Oct. 14.
Dorsey, who is in his second stint as chief executive, also rolled out a "buy now" button that allows users to make purchases and a feature that highlights the best tweets and content.