The Amazon founder plans to donate most of his $124 billion to organizations fighting climate change and division in the United States. He’s in illustrious company.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos now wants to use his fortune to fight climate change and bridge divisions in the United States.
Jeff Bezos, the fourth richest person in the world, wants to give away his fortune during his lifetime. In an interview published on Monday with the television channel CNN Bezos announced that he would give most of his $124 billion to charitable organizations in the coming years. With these donations, he wants to fight climate change and the division within the United States, said Bezos. “We have big problems in the world, and you fight them by working together.”
Bezos has lost $68 billion this year
The 58-year-old was the richest man in the world for a long time and is now in the Bloomberg Billionaire Index fourth place among the wealthiest people in the world. His wealth is based primarily on shares in the Amazon group, which he built up with his ex-wife Mackenzie Scott in the late 1990s. With Amazon stock down 40 percent this year, Bezos’ fortune has also fallen by $68 billion over the past few months.
Bezos also founded the space company Blue Origin, which successfully sent a rocket into space last year. He also owns the Washington Post and is currently considering buying the Washington Commanders football team, according to media reports.
In the company of Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg – and his ex-wife
Mackenzie Scott.
It’s almost surprising that Bezos hasn’t yet promised to give away his fortune – after all, numerous billionaires have already done so: from Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg to the currently richest man in the world, Elon Musk, to Bezos’ ex- Mrs. Mackenzie Scott; she received 4 percent of Amazon stock as part of the divorce and gave away $12 billion to date.
Unlike all of those donors, however, Bezos didn’t sign the 2010 Giving Pledge by billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. With the Giving Pledge, billionaires and millionaires pledge to donate at least half of their wealth to charity during their lifetime; so far have themselves more than 230 people connected to this. It’s not known why Bezos didn’t sign the Giving Pledge, but he’s been criticized for doing so in the past.
Bezos has repeatedly donated money in recent years: last year around $100 million to ex-President Barack Obama’s foundation and $1 billion to climate protection organizations through his “Bezos Earth Fund” foundation, which he founded in 2020. He also created the Courage and Civility Award, which awards $100 million annually to people who can give the money away. This year the award went to singer Dolly Parton.
Bezos said he wants to donate his fortune to organizations to make the biggest impact in fighting the world’s problems. “It’s really difficult,” he told CNN. “There are many ways to do things (with the money) that would not be effective.”