Image Source: The Free Agent
Jeff Bezos, who started Amazon, has said he wants to give away most of his $124 billion (£107 billion) fortune while he is still alive.
The businessman told CNN he would give away his money to fight climate change and make things fairer.
He has been criticized in the past for not promising to give all of his money to charity.
Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, Warren Buffett, and Mr. Bezos’s ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, said they would give away their money.
Mr. Bezos talked about his plans after giving country singer and philanthropist Dolly Parton $100 million for good causes.
He wouldn’t say how he would spend or give away the money, but he did say, “The hard part is figuring out how to do it in a leveraged way.”
He also said that he and his partner, Lauren Sanchez, were “building up the ability to give this money away.”
Previous acts of charity by Jeff Bezos
The multibillionaire gave $10 billion to the Bezos Earth Fund, which he started in 2020 to help fight climate change.
The public has criticized Mr. Bezos and other business leaders for spending a lot of money on trips to space instead of solving problems on Earth. Employees past and present have criticized Amazon for how it handles climate change.
Mr. Bezos is now one of the wealthiest people in the world because Amazon, the online store he started in 1994, has become a worldwide sensation.
He stopped being Amazon’s CEO in 2021 but stayed on as chairman of the board. He also owns the newspaper The Washington Post and the business Blue Origin, which helps people go to space.
Mr. Bezos gave Dolly Parton the Bezos Courage & Civility Award on Sunday. He gave the award to leaders who “seek solutions with courage and kindness.”
Ms. Parton, who has helped with things like teaching kids to read, can give the money to any charity she wants.
Mr. Bezos started the award in 2021. Its first winners were activist Van Jones and chef and humanitarian Jose Andres, who started World Central Kitchen, an organization that helps countries where disasters have hit, get food.
Ms. Parton was put into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame earlier this month. She is a singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman, and philanthropist.
She has helped charities in a big way and started the Dollywood Foundation, which has given books to kids worldwide.
Gates and Chouinard have given away their wealth as well
Bill Gates, who is worth a billion dollars, has promised to share his wealth with others again. He also said he would “drop off” the list of the world’s wealthiest people one day.
At the same time, the co-founder of Microsoft said he would give his charity $20 billion (£17 billion).
The fourth-richest person in the world said he had a “duty” to give some of his money back to society.
In 2010, Bill Gates promised to give away all of his money, but it has grown by more than twice as much since then.
Forbes magazine says that he is worth $118 billion right now. But that amount will drop a lot after he gave a lot of money to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in July. He and his ex-wife started this charity in 2000.
Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia and a billionaire, gave his company to a charitable trust. Chouinard said that any money left should be spent fighting climate change.
Mr. Chouinard has repeatedly said he doesn’t want to work in the business world. When he first became interested in rock climbing, he made climbing spikes out of metal. Later, he switched to clothing and started a very successful sportswear company.
This year, Patagonia made about $1.5 billion in sales, and Mr. Chouinard is worth about $1.2 billion in total.
