Pledging to Give Half of Her $37 Billion, MacKenzie Bezos is Being Far More Philanthropic than Her Ex

MotivationJune 11, 2019

What do you suppose one can do after a divorce? Well, wait. What if there’s a lot of money involved? And we mean A LOT. MacKenzie Bezos, who currently ranks 22^nd on the Bloomsbury Billionaire’s Index, has recently got a divorce from Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and also one of the richest men in the world.

Bill and Melinda Gates, along with Warren Buffet, initiated the Giving Pledge in 2010: a campaign meant to encourage the world’s billionaires to donate the majority of their wealth to charity. Jeff Bezos, ironically, is not really known for his philanthropic activities, as he declined to sign the pledge. Although Vox has claimed that only 7% of the world’s billionaires have signed the pledge, among the top five American tycoons, only Bezos has refused to sign the pledge. It has been reported by Quartz that Bezos’ philanthropic efforts are considered negligible as the billionaire has committed to donating only $2 billion to help the homeless and give education to the low-income communities.

MacKenzie Bezos has written a letter, stating that she has signed the Giving Pledge, intending to donate to charity at least half of her $37 billion. It has just been two months since Jeff Bezos, now dating TV anchor Lauren Sanchez, announced his divorce. Committing publicly to donate more than half of her total assets, MacKenzie has shown that she is far more generous with her wealth than her ex-husband. She has written that her approach to philanthropy will be thoughtful. It may take time and effort but she will keep at it until the safe is empty.

Jeff Bezos, whose current net worth is $114 billion, says his take on philanthropy is opposite from his business strategy: rather than investing in the future, as he does with his work, he finds that he wants to put his money where it can help immediately.