Rosario Monachino
Jeff Bezos says giving away his $124 billion fortune is ‘very hard’.
The former president and CEO of Amazon, 58, was the richest person in the world between 2017 and 2021.
He is currently the fourth richest person in the world and boasts an incredible fortune.
Having worked in telecommunications early on in his career, he founded the then-book-store Amazon out of a rented garage in 1994.
By 1998, he had diversified into the online sale of music and video, before developing the site into the global e-commerce giant that it is today.
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Bezos founded the space tourism company Blue Origin in 2000, which was two years before Musk founded SpaceX.
He has now announced that he will be giving away his $124 billion fortune throughout his lifetime.
In an interview with CNN (via Vanity Fair), he revealed that plans to donate his money to people and charities who are helping to unify humanity and heal deep social and political divides.
While Bezos didn’t confirm exactly what he plans on giving away or who it will go to, he did confirm that he plans to share $10 billion over ten years, or about 8% of his current net worth, to the Bezos Earth Fund.
This will provide grants and financial aid to those fighting climate change and protecting the planet.
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In the interview, in which he was accompanied by his partner Lauren Sanchez, Bezos admitted he has found it hard to find a way to move the money across.
He explained: “The hard part is figuring out how to do it in a levered way.
“It’s not easy, building Amazon was not easy. It took a lot of hard work, a bunch of very smart teammates and I’m finding that philanthropy is very similar.
“It’s not easy it’s very hard.
“We are building the capacity to being able to give away this money. There are a bunch of ways that I think you could do ineffective things, too.
“So you have to think about it carefully and you have to have brilliant people on the team.”
Exclusive: Jeff Bezos tells CNN that he’ll give away the majority of his $124 billion net worth during his lifetime, the first time he’s made such a promise. https://t.co/br4nQKVR3n pic.twitter.com/puR4MFOAAo
— CNN International (@cnni) November 14, 2022
Bezos also added that he has decided to give singer Dolly Parton $100 million to donate to charities of her choosing.
When asked why he made this decision, he explained to CNN: “Look at what she’s done and how she’s led her life. The way she’s done it is by doing bold things, always with civility and kindness.
“She’s a unifier, we have big problems in the world and the way big problems are dealt with is you have to work together.”
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Sanchez added: “When you think of Dolly, everyone smiles. All she wants to do is bring light into other people’s world.
“That’s all, and so we couldn’t have thought of someone better to give this award to.”
Parton responded to Bezos’ statement, by tweeting: “I try to put my money where my heart is. I will do my best to do good things with this money. Thank you Jeff Bezos.”
Bezos had previously come under criticism for his refusal to join the Giving Pledge, a charitable commitment by some of the world’s richest people, including his ex-wife Makenzie Scott.
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