Apple, YouTube unveil $100 million funds to support black causes amid U.S. protests

By Stephen Nellis and Paresh Dave

(Reuters) - Apple Inc <AAPL.O> said on Thursday it will increase spending with black-owned suppliers as part of a $100 million racial equity and justice initiative, while Google-owned <GOOGL.O> YouTube said it will spend $100 million to fund black artists.

The efforts join a wave of actions by big companies, including banks and retailers, aiming to show support for the black community as recent protests in the United States and elsewhere call attention to longstanding discrimination against African Americans.

The protests followed the May 25 death of George Floyd, a black man, while detained by Minneapolis police.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook in a video posted to Twitter said the iPhone maker seeks to increase minority representation among the firms it does business with.

Other moves will include programs to foster black application developers and new initiatives to increase diversity and inclusion within Apple, Cook said.

YouTube Chief Executive Susan Wojcicki said in a blog post the video service would spend $100 million over multiple years on "amplifying and developing the voices of black creators and artists and their stories."

The fund's first video project, "Bear Witness, Take Action," will premiere on YouTube at 6 p.m. ET Saturday, Wojcicki said.

(Reporting by Stephen Nellis and Paresh Dave in San Francisco; Editing by Chris Reese and Aurora Ellis)