Jeff Bezos plans to give away the majority of his fortune

[Shawn Knight]

In brief: Jeff Bezos intends to give away the majority of his wealth during his lifetime, the Amazon founder told CNN in a recent interview. As of writing, Bezos is listed as the world's second wealthiest person with a fortune of $151 billion according to the Forbes 400. Serial entrepreneur Elon Musk sits in the top position with a net worth of $251 billion.

People with an opinion of how Bezos should spend his money have criticized him for not acting sooner. Bezos also hasn't signed the Giving Pledge, a charitable organization founded by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett in 2010 that encourages wealthy individuals and couples to contribute at least half of their net worth to philanthropic causes, either during their lifetime or when they die.

More than 230 signatories from 28 different countries have signed the Giving Pledge to date including Bezos' ex-wife MacKenzie Scott. She currently ranks 18th on the Forbes 400 with a net worth of approximately $37.7 billion.

We've just announced a new Courage and Civility award recipient — @DollyParton, who leads with her heart, and will put this $100 million award to great use helping so many people. She joins prior awardees, @VanJones68 and @Chefjoseandres. Congrats, Dolly! pic.twitter.com/dzTuoGVp3G

— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) November 12, 2022

Bezos said most of his wealth will be used to fight climate change and to support people who he believes can unify humanity. Over the weekend, country music star and philanthropist Dolly Parton was presented with the Bezos Courage and Civility Award. The honor came with a $100 million grant that Parton can donate to charities as she sees fit.

Bezos said building Amazon wasn't easy and he is finding out that philanthropy is very similar. "The hard part is figuring out how to do it in a levered way," he noted, adding that there are a bunch of ways to be very ineffective with it. "We're building the capacity to give away this money," he said.

Amazon was founded by Bezos in mid-1994 out of his garage in Bellevue, Washington. The platform initially sold books but eventually expanded to include merchandise spanning nearly every retail category. Today, Amazon is one of the largest and most successful e-commerce platforms in the world.

Bezos stepped down as CEO in July 2021 but continues to serve as the company's executive chairman. He also owns The Washington Post and private space tourism venture Blue Origin, and is reportedly interested in purchasing the NFL's Washington Commanders football team alongside Jay-Z.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/96645-jeff-bezos-plans-give-away-majority-fortune.html

 

[maxxcool7421]

BS.. you dont announce it and then spend 20 years dolling out TINY TINY ...... TINY grants with a ''promise'' to give it all out at death.

If this were a real thing he'd give 40 billion to Darpa for clean energy research .. 30 billion to something like UNICEF .. 30 billion to cancer research and children's hospitals and 20 billion to anyone under 35,000k income who wants a real college degree.

then keep 4 billion for himself and his wife with the scarey wide smile

 

[EdmondRC]

By fighting climate change what he really means is that he is going to use his money to promote candidates around the globe that will enact legislation to make you poorer by spending trillions on "green energy" which to date has not proven to be any better for the environment than Carbon based energy. Also, to tax fossil fuel derived energy sources to force you into electric cars and solar panels. His money will do nothing to actually fight climate change, but it will go a long way in creating more totalitarianism and widening the gap between the elites and the rest of us.

 

[EdmondRC]

BS.. you dont announce it and then spend 20 years dolling out TINY TINY ...... TINY grants with a ''promise'' to give it all out at death.

If this were a real thing he'd give 40 billion to Darpa for clean energy research .. 30 billion to something like UNICEF .. 30 billion to cancer research and children's hospitals and 20 billion to anyone under 35,000k income who wants a real college degree.

then keep 4 billion for himself and his wife with the scarey wide smile

Forget about any real causes:
"Bezos said most of his wealth will be used to fight climate change"

 

[bviktor]

Jeez, the hatred is real with you guys. You literally can't be pleased.

 

[Skully]

I think I'd find it very difficult to donate to the *right* charities as well. Having 90% of your donation lining the pockets of a charity would piss me off to no end. If he doesn't do it correctly the money is just wasted.

 

[emmzo]

Charity is a great way to evade taxes. But for "green" causes, omg, they even get a profit.

 

[Stingy McDuck]

Forget about any real causes:
"Bezos said most of his wealth will be used to fight climate change"

Sure, because who cares about that, right?

 

[umbala]

"Rich people promise to give away their money" how is this news? I remember a while back Mark Zuckerberg made a similar promise when his first kid was born. He said he was giving away 99% of his fortune. How is that going so far? Oh right....

 

[umbala]

I think I'd find it very difficult to donate to the *right* charities as well. Having 90% of your donation lining the pockets of a charity would piss me off to no end. If he doesn't do it correctly the money is just wasted.

Donating to charities is a scam. They all claim to be non-profit, but then take most of the donations and use it for administrative fees instead of doing actual good with it. The way to do it is how Bill Gates and his wife are doing it. Instead of just writing a big check and handing it over to some lame "charity" that will steal most of it you start your OWN charity and oversee how all the money is spent.

 

[umbala]

Jeez, the hatred is real with you guys. You literally can't be pleased.

It's not hatred when you see through veiled attempts to create positive PR for yourself with just empty promises that everyone knows will go nowhere. Remember when Mark Zuckerberg promised to give away 99% of his fortune years ago? How is that going? Remember when Elon Musk said he was buying Twitter to save humanity? Guess what, his first move was to fire half the employees (15,000 people) to cut costs, and then immediately raised subscription prices on Twitter to try and turn a profit. Crap like this is why no one trusts billionaires and their meaningless promises.

 

[umbala]

I can't believe Bezos traded in his wife for this disgusting looking plastic Barbie doll thing. I would need a crate of Viagra and probably still couldn't get it up for her. Her whole face looks like it's made of plastic. YUCK!

 

[EdmondRC]

Sure, because who cares about that, right?

I'm 40 and I heard all the climate change sermons when I was in school. Guess what, none of them came true. We still have four seasons, the ocean is pretty much exactly where it was before, Summers have actually been cooler, I remember weeks and weeks of upper 90s in the area where I live in when I was kid, most recent summers have had very few times where a whole week would break 90 every day. Every prediction has failed. Yet, they are still preaching about it and saying it is an immediate threat and if we don't do something in 5 years the climate will be irreversible and we're basically all going to die. I have no doubt that climate is warming, has been since the ice age, otherwise half the US would be under a glacier, but we can't stop it nor slow it down. But there are trillions and trillions of dollars that can be taxed from the average people and given to the elites. Not to mention a whole lot of power and control of our everyday lives. One day, you'll be old enough to remember all the failed predictions too. Oh, we had hurricanes and tornadoes, and blizzards, and earthquakes then too, and we have for thousands of years. We have very little control over any of those things.

 

[samlebon2306]

Correction:

Jeff Bezos plans to offshore away the majority of his fortune

 

[kira setsu]

Good on him for at least/maybe trying to help.

but just tax these uber rich people and companies, its that simple.

also, why is his lady blinking so much? that was weird.

 

[mctommy]

Donating to charities is a scam. They all claim to be non-profit, but then take most of the donations and use it for administrative fees instead of doing actual good with it. The way to do it is how Bill Gates and his wife are doing it. Instead of just writing a big check and handing it over to some lame "charity" that will steal most of it you start your OWN charity and oversee how all the money is spent.

While I agree to a certain degree, the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation's administrative and operating bill is quite exorbitant too. At least they have control of it. To that point, it's better to give in a control manner than sending all at once as it is, in my opinion, human nature to be spending much more (and be wasteful) when you just received a donation that is 30x larger (or whatever number you wan to insert).

I'm 40 and I heard all the climate change sermons when I was in school. Guess what, none of them came true. We still have four seasons, the ocean is pretty much exactly where it was before, Summers have actually been cooler, I remember weeks and weeks of upper 90s in the area where I live in when I was kid, most recent summers have had very few times where a whole week would break 90 every day. Every prediction has failed. Yet, they are still preaching about it and saying it is an immediate threat and if we don't do something in 5 years the climate will be irreversible and we're basically all going to die. I have no doubt that climate is warming, has been since the ice age, otherwise half the US would be under a glacier, but we can't stop it nor slow it down. But there are trillions and trillions of dollars that can be taxed from the average people and given to the elites. Not to mention a whole lot of power and control of our everyday lives. One day, you'll be old enough to remember all the failed predictions too. Oh, we had hurricanes and tornadoes, and blizzards, and earthquakes then too, and we have for thousands of years. We have very little control over any of those things.

Sure, your own anecdotal experience is simply fact and rule. Climate change isn't real. /s

 

[InsideJobFilms]

While I agree to a certain degree, the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation's administrative and operating bill is quite exorbitant too. At least they have control of it. To that point, it's better to give in a control manner than sending all at once as it is, in my opinion, human nature to be spending much more (and be wasteful) when you just received a donation that is 30x larger (or whatever number you wan to insert).



Sure, your own anecdotal experience is simply fact and rule. Climate change isn't real. /s

Anecdotal? Let’s take a look…

In the 1960s it was believed that their would be worldwide famine including the west by the 1980s…

In the 1970s the eco-disaster that was being spread around with the same religious fervor you see today was an ice age by the 2000’s backed up by satellite imagery and all the top scientist giving consensus.

In 1974 it was total worldwide ozone depletion…

1978 all the NASA data and other studies showed the start to a “No End in Sight 30-Year Cooling Trend”

In 1979 many climatologist were saying that New York’s West Side Highway Underwater by 2019 (it’s not)…

In 1980 it was acid rain..

1989: UN Warns That Entire Nations Wiped Off the Face of the Earth by the year 2000 From Global Warming

2005: UN - Fifty Million Climate Refugees by the Year 2020

I could go on and on but the track record for the cult of climate doom prophets hasn’t been very accurate.

Correlation by the way isn't necessarily causation. I love FSM's correlation example that shows that there has been a steady decrease of pirates year after year since the 1600's and during that same period global temperatures have been rising.

I think a more sensible cause of "climate change" will at one point be determined that periods solar of minimum and maximum output over thousand year + cycles are a far more potent driver of temperature on earth than anything other single factor.

 

[VitalyT]

This contradicts the business practices he has been instituting everywhere, treating employees as little more than slaves.

In effect, it is safe to say this contradicts his very character. And men in his age do not change.

This in turn makes it a BS PR.

 

[Uncle Al]

"Jeff Bezos plans to give away the majority of his fortune"

Maybe in his will, otherwise I'll believe it when I see it .....

 

[Nobina]

All this because of a divorce.

 

[EdmondRC]

Sure, your own anecdotal experience is simply fact and rule. Climate change isn't real. /

Why don't we talk about something that is proven by history. All governments lie to control people. Now that we have that real fact of the world, let's ask ourselves this question, would government and politicians lie to us to maintain their own political power and authority?

Here's a few other facts:
If there is any man-made climate change, its being greatly exaggerated. History has already proven this numerous times with its priests' own failed predictions.

Politicians are using climate change for power. Promising "green energies" that have not proven themselves and often are just as or more destructive than fossil fuels. This while levying heavy taxes on fossil fuel energy to exert more control over you.

The priests of climate change do not practice what they preach. As far as human carbon footprints, many of them have the largest on the planet.

Saudi's love EGS and promote it for Western societies so they'll stop drilling and buy oil from them. Russia spent big money on promoting EGS in the West as well. Surprise, Surprise, of course it makes sense, they don't plan to stop drilling. But, they do know that green energy is not a threat to them.

 

[kiwigraeme]

I can't believe Bezos traded in his wife for this disgusting looking plastic Barbie doll thing. I would need a crate of Viagra and probably still couldn't get it up for her. Her whole face looks like it's made of plastic. YUCK!

Yes we get the point - better left unsaid though

 

[kiwigraeme]

I do not know if I received the YT link from here - But lots of these Billionaire charity - things are a massive tax saving .
The way it works if you die or gift stocks huge tax burden for kids .
Making a charity that your kids controls - loses less money - and gives your kids lots of income and expenses paid .
Some are far more cynical than others - from tokenism to a genuine charity of some repute

 

[tkabou]

Jeez, the hatred is real with you guys. You literally can't be pleased.

No, we’ve all been around the block enough times to spot the BS virtue signaling and typical con by these elites.

If they really wanted life-changing benefits for this planet, they’d ensure clean water supply and infrastructure for Africa, build the Southern Border wall to keep all the gangs and drugs out, invest in promote pro-life causes to further economic development and ingenuity, and deliver food to the hungry.

 

[mbk34]

Good for him. It's good to try and do something positive in the world. It doesn't really matter if you're donating billions or just a couple of dollars. Though personally, I'm most impressed by those that donate their time to the things they believe in.