Jeff Bezos plans to donate the majority of his wealth worth 124 billion dollars

A few days ago, global media reported that billionaire Jeff Bezos has decided to donate one hundred million dollars to the Imagination Library organization, founded by musician and philanthropist Dolly Parton. With this, Bezos has chosen to support Parton in her efforts to encourage children to read and provide them with free books. This commendable move, which surprised Parton herself, is just the beginning. Namely, Jeff Bezos plans to donate the majority of his wealth, which currently exceeds 124 billion dollars. As the founder of Amazon stated in an interview with CNN, he will primarily invest in organizations fighting climate change, but also support those who unite all of humanity through their actions, regardless of political differences. In addition, his new wife, former journalist Lauren Sanchez, participated in the interview for the first time, and he exclusively shared the decision that he will give away the majority of his wealth during his lifetime.

Philanthropy and mass layoffs

Over the past decade, Bezos has donated 10 billion dollars to his own foundation, the Bezos Earth Fund, which is also led by Sanchez. The foundation’s goals include reducing carbon footprints, prioritizing the steel and cement industries, developing technology that helps reduce emissions, and increasing awareness of climate change.

– The hardest part is figuring out how to do it – Bezos said, comparing the process of donating his wealth to building Amazon.

– It’s not easy. Building Amazon wasn’t easy. It took hard work, a lot of very smart colleagues, very dedicated colleagues. I believe, and I think Lauren agrees, that philanthropy is very similar. There are a lot of ways in which I think you can do ineffective things, so you really have to think everything through and have brilliant people on your team – Bezos concluded.

The news that Bezos will donate the majority of his wealth arrived practically at the same time as the announcement of mass layoffs at Amazon. Due to the worst business results in the last 14 years, the company plans to lay off over 10,000 workers. Bezos, who is the second richest person in the world, left the company he founded in 1994 last year, where he was the CEO until his departure. He was succeeded in that position by former AWS chief, Andy Jassy.