Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said in an interview with CNN that he plans to donate most of his wealth to charity within his lifetime, the first time he’s made such a pledge.
Bezos is currently the fourth richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $124.1 billion, per Forbes.
In an interview with CNN’s Chloe Melas that aired Monday, Bezos confirmed that he intends to donate the majority of his wealth to charitable causes. According to Bezos, most of his donations will go toward fighting climate change and to people who can unify humanity in the face of deep social and political divisions.
Philanthropy “is really hard,” Bezos said in the interview. “We’re building the capacity to be able to give away this money.”
In 2020, the Amazon founder announced the formation of the Bezos Earth Fund, which he set up to grant $10 billion over 10 years to scientists, activists and non-governmental organizations “to help preserve and protect the natural world.” Until now, Bezos had not officially signed on to the Giving Pledge, which encourages high net-worth individuals to commit to giving away more than half their wealth.
Bezos was interviewed by CNN alongside girlfriend Lauren Sánchez. On Saturday, the couple announced Dolly Parton as the $100 million grant recipient of the Bezos Courage and Civility Award. Bezos has previously given the award to celebrity chef Jose Andrés and CNN contributor and Dream.org founder Van Jones.
Bezos began dating Sánchez, the ex-wife of Endeavor executive chairman Patrick Whitesell, while Bezos was still married to MacKenzie Scott. Under Bezos’ 2019 divorce settlement with Scott, she received 25% of the shares in Amazon that had been jointly held by the couple. Scott pledged todonate at least half her wealth to charitable causes and has given away an estimated $12.8 billion to more than 1,200 organizations.
Bezos, who now owns slightly less than 10% of Amazon’s shares, owns the Washington Post and aerospace company Blue Origin. He stepped down as CEO of Amazon in July 2021, succeeded by Andy Jassy. Bezos is the No. 4 wealthiest person in the world, after Elon Musk ($200 billion), Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton ($175 billion) and Gautam Adani, chairman of multinational conglomerate Adani Group ($147 billion).
