Seattle, Nov. 15, (dpa/GNA) - Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has promised to give away most of his wealth during his lifetime.
Bezos, currently the world’s fourth richest person based on Forbes billionaires list, also admitted that he wants to ensure that the worthiest causes benefits from his charity.
Bezos made the pledge after donating $100 million to country singer Dolly Parton to give to charities of her choice as part of Bezos’s annual Courage and Civility award.
Without providing further details, Bezos said he and partner Lauren Sánchez were “building the capacity to be able to give away this money”.
Bezos founded e-commerce giant Amazon in 1994 out of his garage in Seattle.
He stepped down as chief executive to become executive chairman in July 2021 and now owns just under 10% of the company.
He and his wife MacKenzie divorced in 2019 after 25 years of marriage and he transferred a quarter of his then 16% Amazon stake to her.
Bezos has donated more than $400 million worth of stock to nonprofits in 2022, though it’s unclear which organizations received those shares.
Bezos owns The Washington Post and Blue Origin, an aerospace company developing rockets.
In the past, Bezos has been heavily criticized for his relative lack of largesse toward charity compared with some fellow billionaires.
Bezos is not a signatory to the Giving Pledge, which encourages the world’s wealthiest to give half their net worth to philanthropy and was set up by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.
It has attracted more than 230 signatories including Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.
GNA