Amazon founder Jeff Bezos told CNN that he plans to give away most of his wealth, which is estimated at $171 billion. According to Forbes, Bezos is the second-wealthiest person in the world, behind Elon Musk.
Bezos announced while participating in an interview alongside his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez. It was the first time they have been interviewed together. She is helping to direct the money to programs.
“The hard part is figuring out how to do it in a levered way,” he told CNN.“It’s not easy. Building Amazon was not easy. It took a lot of hard work, a bunch of very smart teammates, hard-working teammates, and I’m finding — and I think Lauren is finding the same thing — that charity, philanthropy, is very similar.”
Bezos hinted that he wants to be strategic with how his wealth is used.
“There are a bunch of ways that I think you could do ineffective things, too,” he told CNN. “So you have to think about it carefully and you have to have brilliant people on the team.”
Bezos recently announced that musician Dolly Parton has earned a $100 million grant for her charitable endeavors.
Bezos’ ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, has also been generous with her wealth. She announced on Monday that she has given away nearly $2 billion of her wealth to 343 organizations in 2022.
She released a full list of the groups she donated to on Monday.
"Of special note is that many of the organizations are funds. For anyone similarly interested in supporting the leadership of people from the communities they’re assisting, funds are a great resource," Scott said. They pool donations and spread them across a diverse group of smaller organizations working toward a common cause. The funds we picked look for teams with lived experience in the issues they’re addressing, as we did when selecting the other non-profits in this giving cycle."
Forbes lists her as the 30th wealthiest person in the world, with a net worth of $43.6 billion.