Jeff Bezos says ‘it’s really hard’ to donate effectively while ex-wife gives away $2 billion

File photo of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his ex-wife MacKenzie Scott.

When Jeff Bezos told CNN last week that he plans to give away the majority of his $119.5 billion fortune, he also mentioned that “it’s really hard” to give away large amount of money in effective ways. The same day, his ex-wife MacKenzie Scott declared that she’d given away nearly $2 billion in donations over the last seven months.

"Over the last seven months, with the help of my team, I gave $1,990,800,000 to 343 organizations supporting the voices and opportunities of people from underserved communities," Scott, whose net worth is $28.2 billion, wrote in her blog post.

Explaining her strategy she added, "Give money to credible organizations, then step back and let them decide what to do with the funds."

“I needn’t ask those I care about what to say to them, or what to do for them... I can share what I have with them to stand behind them as they speak and act for themselves.”

In contrast, Jeff Bezos, who is the fourth-richest person in the world according to Forbes, had told CNN that “The hard part is figuring out how to do it (donate) in a levered way.”

Read more: Jeff Bezos says he will give most of his money to charity: Report

Notably, the Amazon founder Bezos has not signed The Giving Pledge -- -- a campaign by some of the richest people in the world, and founded by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, to contribute a majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes. MacKenzie Scott, however, joined it in 2019.

Scott made that commitment the same year the couple divorced and she received about $36 billion in Amazon shares.

Read more: Jeff Bezos accepts philanthropy award as ex-wife Mackenzie Scott outpaces his donations