Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and one of the richest men in the world, said today that he intends to give away most of his $124 billion fortune in his lifetime – joining an ever-growing list of billionaire philanthropists who also own such. By Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and David Velez.
Bezos ranks fourth in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, behind only Gautam Adani, the Indian infrastructure mogul ($138 billion); LVMH’s Bernard Arnault ($160 billion); And Elon Musk, who has a net worth of more than $200 billion. Bezos, who split from Mackenzie Scott in 2019 after 25 years together, made the announcement during an interview with CNN alongside his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez.
Jeff Bezos
He said he’s looking for ways to distribute his wealth by maximizing the impact of donations, as there are many ways to do this inefficiently. “It’s not easy,” Bezoss said. “Building Amazon wasn’t easy either. It took a lot of hard work and very smart people. Lauren and I find that philanthropy is very similar. It is not easy. Very difficult.”
Bezoas’ announcement comes three years after his ex-wife signed the Giving Pledge, the campaign launched by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates to encourage billionaires to give at least half their wealth away in their lifetime. Since then, Mackenzie Scott has already donated half of her fortune ($12 billion), including to Brazilian initiatives such as Vetor Brasil and Gerando Falcões.
In recent years, Bezos has been criticized for not joining the movement. The Amazon founder has made other large donations in recent years. In 2020, he announced $10 billion to fight climate change through the Bezos Earth Fund. He had previously donated $2 billion to help homeless families and start schools for children.
