Former Richest Person Jeff Bezos Pledges Most Of His Fortune To Charity
While billionaires may not be among the most popular people on the globe, there are times their enormous wealth is used for good. Case in point: when Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, formerly the richest person in the world, announced his plans to give away a majority of his US$124 billion fortune to charity.
Speaking with CNN, Bezos says he pledges to donate most of his wealth to help fight climate change and reduce inequality across the globe, following in the footsteps of fellow billionaires Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and Bezos’ ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott.
According to the BBC, the businessman was criticized in the past for not donating more of his fortune to help the poor. It appears that he is finally revealing his plans, using the opportunity after donating US$100 million to Dolly Parton’s foundation to address the issue.
The singer was awarded the sum as part of the Bezos Courage & Civility Award, meant to recognize leaders in the space who “pursue solutions with courage and civility.” Parton, who runs the Dollywood Foundation, will get to decide what to do with the money.
While Bezos has yet to give specifics on how he plans to distribute his money, and declined to set a specific target amount, he did say that it was challenging to have to figure out “how to do it in a levered way.”
CNN notes that over the past decade, the chairman has donated over US$10 billion—which equates to about 8% of his current net worth—to the Bezos Earth Fund, an organization run by him and his partner, Lauren Sánchez.
The initiative aims to join the global fight against climate change by reducing the carbon footprint of construction materials such as cement and steel, advocating for financial authorities to take into account climate risks, and working on better technologies to monitor carbon output.
Will we see Bezos making larger and more public donations following this announcement? In any case, having the super-rich give back to society is a step in the right direction.
[via BBC and CNN, cover image via Laurence Agron | Dreamstime.com]
