Jeff Bezos, the creator of Amazon, stated that he intends to donate the vast bulk of his $124 billion fortune throughout his lifetime. In an interview with CNN, Jeff Bezos stated that he will use the majority of his income to combat climate change. Additionally, he stated that by making this decision, he wished to support those who could bring humanity together in the face of severe social and political divisions.
Building Amazon was not easy: Bezos
For the first time, Jeff Bezos has stated that he will donate the majority of the proceeds. Jeff Bezos had previously come under fire from detractors for refusing to sign the Giving Pledge, a commitment made by hundreds of the world’s wealthiest individuals to devote the bulk of their wealth to charity organizations.
Along with his partner, the former journalist-turned-philanthropist Lauren Sanchez, Jeff Bezos made the remarks. The pair is “developing the capacity to be able to give this money out,” he claimed. Jeff Bezos responded, “Yeah, I do,” when asked if he intended to donate the majority of his wealth during his lifetime.
“The hard part is figuring out how to do it in a levered way,” Jeff Bezos told CNN.
“It’s not easy. Building Amazon was not easy. It took a lot of hard work, and a bunch of very smart, hard-working teammates, and I’m finding — and I think Lauren is finding the same thing — that charity, and philanthropy, is very similar. There are a bunch of ways that I think you could do ineffective things, too,” he added. “So you have to think about it carefully and you have to have brilliant people on the team,” he further said. Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez have been together since 2019.
