Tag: Jeff Bezos

Amazon head honcho Jeff Bezos has revealed that it’s actually ‘not easy’ to give away his estimated over $100 billion fortune.

The Amazon founder revealed that he plans to give away ‘most’ of his massive fortune to various good causes. In fact, Bezos has already committed to giving $10 billion by 2030 to the Bezos Earth Fund to help combat climate change. He also recently gave a $100 million grant to country music superstar Dolly Parton so that she can continue her philanthropic work. Parton received the Bezos Courage and Civility Award from Bezos and Sanchez earlier this month. The award ‘recognises leaders who aim high, find solutions, and who always do it with civility’ according to Sanchez.

Bezos has also admitted that giving away his massive fortune is actually ‘very hard’. When he was interviewed by CNN, he said: “The hard part is figuring out how to do it in a levered way.”

“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.”

He further said: “There are a bunch of ways that I think you could do ineffective things, too. So you have to think about it carefully, and you have to have brilliant people on the team.”

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Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has donated a whopping $100 million USD to the Obama Foundation as per ABC. Former US president Barack Obama’s foundation confirms that it has received $US100 million from Bezos which happens to be the largest individual contribution it has ever received from anyone.

According to The Obama Foundation, the gift from Mr. Bezos was intended “to help expand the scope of programming that reaches emerging leaders” in the United States as well as around the world.

According to the foundation, The donation is in honour of Congressman John Lewis, who happens to be a hero of the US civil rights movement of the 1960s who passed away last year.

“Freedom fighters deserve a special place in the pantheon of heroes, and I can’t think of a more fitting person to honour with this gift than John Lewis, a great American leader and a man of extraordinary decency and courage,” Jeff Bezos said in the statement released by the foundation.

“I’m thrilled to support President and Mrs. Obama and their Foundation in its mission to train and inspire tomorrow’s leaders.”

ABC confirms that the construction of Mr. Obama’s project is expected to cost about $US830 million and roughly be completed by around 2025.

Since quitting his role of CEO in Amazon this year, Mr Bezos has turned his sights to focusing more of his attention on philanthropy.

Last year he promised to spend $US10 billion by 2030 to enhance climate change efforts through his Bezos Earth Fund as per ABC. Similarly, a medical center affiliated with New York University called NYU Langone Health revealed it had received $US166 million from Mr Bezos and his family. NYU Langone Health revealed that the donation would be used to help “with the health and wellness of diverse populations” in Brooklyn.

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