Jeff Bezos Wants To Donate Most Of His $124 Billion Fortune To Charity
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the fourth richest person in the world, announces he will donate most of his $124 billion fortune to charity while he is alive.
The 58-years-old multi-billionaire said in a CNN interview that he wants to donate most of his fortune during his lifetime to projects that fight climate change and the deep social and political divisions that affect humanity.
However, Jeff Bezos did not provide dates or any significant details of the projects he mentioned. But in any case, for CNN this is the first time the businessman has announced that he wants to donate the bulk of his fortune.
Jeff Bezos stressed that it is difficult to determine which worthy causes should benefit from the money.
Amazon's executive chairman, who spoke in the presence of his partner, journalist Lauren Sánchez, said that together they are trying to identify the right tools and projects to make these donations.
Jeff Bezos Claims He Will Donate Most Of His $124 Billion Fortune
The American billionaire did not give many details about how this big charity drive will work or what percentage of his huge fortune might go to philanthropy. Still, when asked if he intends to donate most of his assets during his lifetime, Jeff Bezos clearly answered, "Yes, I do."
On this occasion, the billionaire announced that he had given $100 million to country singer Dolly Parton to give to charities of her choice.
Dolly Parton's donation is the third that Bezos has made as part of his Courage and Civility Award, following similar grants to chef José Andrés and climate change activist Van Jones.
Furthermore, Jeff Bezos has committed $10 billion over 10 years to the Bezos Earth Fund, which Sánchez co-chairs and Amazon is one of 300 companies that have pledged to reduce their carbon footprint by 2040, in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Jeff Bezos Is The Forth Richest Person In The World
Jeff Bezos is currently the fourth richest person in the world, according to the Forbes billionaires list, after Elon Musk (203 billion dollars in personal assets), Bernard Arnault (138 billion dollars), and Gautam Adani (125 billion dollars).
According to The Guardian, Jeff Bezos - who has grown Amazon from a start-up that began in a rented garage to a $1 billion global business - has been criticized in the past for his relative lack of generosity to charitable causes compared to other billionaires.
Jeff Bezos is not a signatory to the Giving Pledge. The group encourages the world's wealthiest people to give half of their net worth to philanthropy and was founded by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. This initiative attracted more than 230 signatories, including Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.
Bezos's ex-wife MacKenzie Scott, who in September filed for divorce from her second husband Dan Jewett, reached a divorce settlement with Bezos for a record $38 billion, making her the fourth richest woman in the world. She recently donated $3.8 billion to 465 organizations in less than a year.
In 2018, Bezos ranked No. 1 in the Philanthropy 50, a ranking of the world's biggest philanthropists by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Critics say Bezos should be as concerned about wages and working conditions for Amazon employees as she is about donating to charitable causes.
