Jeff Bezos has planned to give away the majority of his $124 billion net worth to charity, especially to those fighting climate change and supporting people who can unify humanity in the face of deep social divisions and political unrest.
The Amazon founder told CNN that he and his partner Lauren Sanchez are “building the capacity to be able to give away this money.”
Although Bezos’s was light on the specifics -- he declined to reveal a specific percentage or share details on where it would likely be spent -- when asked directly by the publication whether he intends to donate the majority of his wealth within his lifetime, he said: “Yeah, I do.”
This is the first time that Jeff Bezos has acknowledged that he plans to give away most of his money. This also comes three weeks after he accepted an award at the Vatican for his philanthropy work.
Over the last 10 years, the Amazon founder has committed $10 billion to the Bezos Earth Fund which works on fighting climate change.
But Bezos has often been criticised for not signing The Giving Pledge -- a campaign by some of the richest people in the world to contribute a majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes.
His ex-wife Mackenzie Scott, in comparison, has been on a major philanthropic spree by donating about $4 billion to 465 organisations in less than a year.
She gave away more than $84.5 million to Girl Scout USA in October. It is reportedly the largest donation they have ever received and will help the organization recover from the impact of the pandemic, during which membership plummeted.
Earlier this year, Scott had also made a $275 million donation to Planned Parenthood.
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