Jeff Bezos, who started Amazon, has said he wants to give away most of his $124 billion (£107 billion) fortune while he is still alive.
The businessman told CNN he would give away his money to fight climate change and make things fairer.
People have said he broke his promise not to give all his money to charity.
Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, Warren Buffett, and Jeff Bezos’s ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, said they would give away their money.
After giving country singer and philanthropist Dolly Parton $100 million for good causes, Mr. Bezos talked about what he would do next.
CNN asked Mr. Bezos if he planned to give away most of his money during his lifetime. He said, “Yes, I do.”
Although Bezos didn’t say how he would spend or give the money, but he did say, “The hard part is figuring out how to do it in a leveraged way.”
He also said he and his partner, Lauren Sanchez, were “building up the ability to give this money away.”
Charity work done in the past by Jeff Bezos
The billionaire gave $10 billion to the Bezos Earth Fund, which he started in 2020 to help fight climate change.
Mr. Bezos and other business leaders made this decision after being criticized for spending a lot of money on space trips instead of solving Earth’s problems. Amazon has also been criticized by its employees for how it deals with global warming.
Mr. Bezos is now one of the wealthiest people in the world because Amazon, the online store he started in 1994, has become a worldwide hit.
In 2021, he was no longer Amazon’s CEO but remained chairman of the board. He also owns The Washington Post newspaper and Blue Origin, a company that helps people go to space.
The Bezos Courage & Civility Award was given to Dolly Parton by Mr. Bezos on Sunday. Leaders who “seek solutions with courage and kindness” get this award.
Ms. Parton, who has helped kids learn to read, can give the money to any charity she wants.
In 2021, Mr. Bezos made the award. Its first winners were activist Van Jones and chef and humanitarian Jose Andres, who started World Central Kitchen, an organization that helps countries where disasters have hit get food.
This month, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Ms. Parton. She is an actress, songwriter, and businesswoman who gives money to good causes.
She has done a lot for charities and started the Dollywood Foundation, which gives books to children worldwide.
Other charity work by other wealthy individuals
Bill Gates, a billionaire, has said he will give away some of his money again. He also said that one day he would “fall off” the list of the wealthiest people in the world.
At the same time, the man who helped start Microsoft said he would give $20 billion (£17 billion) to his charity.
The person with the fourth most money in the world said it was his “duty” to give some of it back to society.
Bill Gates said in 2010 that he would give away all of his money, but it has grown by more than twice as much since then.
Forbes says that he is currently worth $118 billion. But after he gave a lot of money to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in July, that number will go down. In 2000, he and his ex-wife set up this charity.
Yvon Chouinard gave his company to a trust so that it can be used for good causes. Chouinard says that any money left over would be used to fight climate change.
Mr. Chouinard has said more than once that he does not want to work in business. When he first started rock climbing, he made climbing spikes for himself and his friends out of metal. Later, he changed to clothing and started a very successful sportswear company.
Read Also: Yvon Chouinard gives fashion firm away to charity
Patagonia, which opened in 1973, made about $1.5 billion in sales this year, and Mr. Chouinard is worth about $1.2 billion in total.
