Just last July, Bill Gates announced that he planned to give away his entire fortune to charity before he died. Now the billionaire Jeff Bezosfollows his philanthropic lead and announced that he will donate most of his estate to charity.
The 58-year-old tycoon and his girlfriend, the journalist Lauren Sanchezrevealed their generous plans by granting their first interview as a couple since they started dating in 2019.
During the talk with CNNThe tycoon was asked if he plans to donate the majority of his wealth during his lifetime. The founder of Amazon simply said: “Yes that’s how it is”. The 52-year-old businesswoman added that they are “building the capacity to be able to donate this money”.
Right now, Jeff Bezos is the fourth richest person in the world, with a estimated fortune of 122,000 million dollarsaccording to the Billionaires Index of Bloomberg.
The businessman was in first place on the list for at least 6 consecutive years, but in October 2021 he was ousted to second place by Elon Musk. It has also been surpassed by the French bernard arnaultwhich has the second place, and the Indian Gautam Adani, In the third. However, he still surpasses Bill Gateswhich is in fifth place with a difference of ‘only’ 10,000 million dollars.
The Amazon founder said he will donate some of his wealth, but not how much or when
For the owner of blue originPhilanthropy is an almost unknown field, since it is one of the few ultra-rich who is not known for great charitable works. In fact, it is the first time that he has announced his intention to part with part of his money.
Apparently, the change would be part of a strategy devised by the journalist with Mexican roots, to make Jeff’s image more positive through charitable works and, thus, “position himself as a some new Bill and Melinda Gates“, they point out.
Bezos has been heavily criticized for not signing the Giving Pledgean initiative of Bill Gates, his ex-wife Melinda French and the also billionaire Warren Buffett. The campaign seeks hundreds of the richest people in the world to commit to donate a large part of their wealth to social, scientific, environmental and other causes.
Therefore, now the founder of Amazon is carefully studying his movements. He even compared his philanthropic planning to the creation of the e-commerce giant.
“The hard part is figuring out how to do it in a leveraged way,” Jeff Bezos acknowledged in the interview, referring to maximizing return. “Is not easy. Building Amazon was not easy. It took a lot of hard work, a lot of very smart and hardworking teammates. I’m discovering – and I think Lauren is discovering the same thing – that charity, philanthropy, is very similar. It is very difficult… So you have to think about it carefully,” he added.
Beyond that, the tycoon did not specify which foundations or causes his “inheritance in life” will go to. However, he anticipated that he would begin by focusing on areas such as the fight against climate change and “supporting people who can unify humanity in the face of deep social and political divisions,” the outlet quoted.
Jeff Bezos has already started distributing money
One of his intentions when he resigned as Amazon CEOin July 2021, was to pursue more space travel and philanthropy.
The businessman announced the donation of 10,000 million dollars to combat the climate change through its founding, Bezos Earth Fundof which he is executive president while his girlfriend serves as vice president.
The couple also announced the delivery of the Bezos Award for Courage and Civilityawarded this year to country music star and philanthropist Dolly Parton. The award is accompanied by a contribution from 100 million dollars to support various causes.
“We couldn’t have thought of someone better than Dolly to give her this award. We know that she is going to do incredible things with him, ”Lauren Sánchez said in the interview.
Recently, Bezos’ billionaire ex-wife, mackenzie scott, donated two mansions worth $55 million in Beverly Hills. It is estimated that she has given away nearly $4 billion to 465 organizations in less than a year.
Editorial Team The editorial team of EMPRENDEDOR.com, which for more than 27 years has worked to promote entrepreneurship.