Jeff Bezos to give away most of his $124 billion wealth for climate change, charitable cause: Report

By Team Newsable | First Published Nov 15, 2022, 12:35 PM IST

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said that he plans to give away the majority of his $124 billion net worth during his lifetime. Jeff Bezos said that he will devote the bulk of his wealth to fighting climate change.

The majority of Jeff Bezos' fortune will go to organisations that fight social and political injustice as well as climate change. With a net worth of $124 billion, Bezos is presently the fourth richest person in the world, according to Forbes.

Bezos and his partner, journalist-turned-philanthropist Lauren Sánchez, said in an exclusive interview with CNN that they want to donate the majority of his wealth during his lifetime and that they are presently "developing the capacity to be able to give away this money." Making a decision about how to divide his enormous riches is currently their biggest difficulty.

Tap to resize

Latest Videos

Tap to resize

He said that the hard part is figuring out how to do it in a levered way. He further hinted that though he intends to give away most part of his wealth, he is still looking at ways to maximise profit in business. But he refused to say how much of his money would be spent where or in what manner.

Also Read | Amazon plans to fire 10,000 employees, likely to start this week: Report

Bezos has given the Bezos Earth Fund, which Sánchez co-chairs, $10 billion over the course of ten years, or around 8% of his current net wealth. According to the CNN report, some of its top priorities include lowering the carbon footprint of building-grade cement and steel, pressuring financial regulators to take climate-related risks into account, advancing data and mapping technologies to monitor carbon emissions, and constructing large-scale, naturally occurring carbon sinks.

Along with the Washington Post and the aerospace firm Blue Origin, Bezos, who resigned as CEO of Amazon in July 2021, holds little under 10% of the company's shares. The Bezos Earth Fund, which he established to provide USD 10 billion over 10 years to scientists, activists, and non-governmental groups "to assist conserve and safeguard the natural world," was first announced by him in 2020.

Also Read | Mega Meta layoff: Zuckerberg says he has been thoughtful about job cuts than Elon Musk

For more reliable and latest news