Amazon Founder Bezos Plans to Give Away Most of His Fortune

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the world’s fourth-richest man, pledged to provide away a majority of his $124 billion internet value in his lifetime, after beforehand being scrutinized for not doing so.

Bezos mentioned he’ll commit the cash to combating local weather change and supporting individuals who can unify humanity, though he did not identify any particular charities or present a timeline.

As of October, Bezos had given away $2.4 billion in his lifetime, lower than 2% of his total internet value. His donations have been criticized when in comparison with these of his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, who has donated $12.8 billion to 1,200 organizations within the two years since divorcing Bezos.

Scott additionally signed The Giving Pledge, a dedication began by Invoice Gates, Melinda French Gates and Warren Buffet in 2010 for billionaires to provide away nearly all of their wealth, which Bezos did not signal.

Bezos and his companion Lauren Sánchez are “constructing the capability to have the ability to give away this cash,” he mentioned in an interview with CNN.

Bezos recommend he’ll search to maximise returns and donate to massive nonprofits, a distinct technique than Scott’s donation technique.

“The laborious half is determining how one can do it in a levered means,” he instructed CNN. “It is not simple. Constructing Amazon was not simple. It took plenty of laborious work, a bunch of very sensible teammates, hard-working teammates, and I am discovering — and I feel Lauren is discovering the identical factor — that charity, philanthropy, could be very related.”

Combating Local weather Change

Beforehand, one in all Bezos’ predominant objectives in his philanthropic efforts has been to fight local weather change and world warming.

In 2020, Bezos pledged $10 billion over 10 years by the Bezos Earth Fund to guard nature and combat local weather change. As of November, the fund had distributed $1.54 billion.

Amazon additionally pledged, alongside 300 different firms, to considerably scale back its carbon footprint by 2040 in accordance with the Paris Local weather Settlement.

Nonetheless, Bezos has been below scrutiny for these pledges.

 Amazon’s footprint grew 18% in 2021, with the corporate citing as the primary issue the pandemic increase in digital commerce.

Many have additionally criticized his selection to speculate $8.6 billion in his house firm, Blue Origin, slightly than devoting cash in direction of fixing issues on Earth.

Bezos has responded by claiming that the house exploration program will profit humanity in the long term by eradicating all polluting industries from the planet.