Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has said he plans to donate most of his net worth within his lifetime to charity in a new… interview with CNN. Bezos didn’t give details on how he would distribute the money or what percentage of his wealth he would give away, but said he wanted to fight climate change and support people who can unite humanity, CNN reports. The Amazon founder is reportedly the fourth richest person on Earth, with a net worth of $124 billion, according to BloombergBillionaires Index.
CNN reports that this is the first time Bezos has announced plans to give away most of his fortune. In a clip of the interview published by CNN, interviewer Chloe asks Melas if Bezos plans to “give away most of your wealth in your lifetime.”
“Yes, I do,” Bezos responds. “The hardest part is figuring out how to do it in a lever-like 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 think – and I think Lauren [Sánchez, Bezos’ partner] is the same – that philanthropy is very similar. It’s not easy, it’s really hard.”
“We are building the capacity to be able to give this money away.”
“There are a number of ways I think you can also do ineffective things,” Bezos added. “We are building the capacity to be able to give this money away.”
The comments make Bezos the latest billionaire to say he will give away some or all of his wealth to charities. Most notably, Microsoft founder Bill Gates has said he plans to give away”as good as allof his fortune (currently estimated at $114 billion) to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has been reported as the largest private charity in the world. Gates also co-founded The Giving Pledge, a campaign to encourage the world’s super-wealthy to donate much of their wealth to philanthropic causes. As of this writing, Jeff Bezos is not listed as a signatory.
Bezos has previously pledged large sums of money to charities, though nothing comes close to most of his wealth. In 2020, he announced the creation of the Bezos Earth Fund and pledged to spend $10 billion to fight climate change.
