MacKenzie Bezos Pledges over $15 Billion to Charity

MacKenzie Bezos, the former wife of Amazon’s founder- Jeff Bezos, has recently pledged to donate half of her 35 billion dollar fortune to the Charity. By doing so, her name is added next to the signatures of some of the wealthiest people of the world on The Giving Pledge, a site where people can pledge to give away half of their wealth at some time in there life.

$35 Billion

After MacKenzie divorced from the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, she acquired $35 billion, making her the world’s third richest woman according to Forbes. On Tuesday, weeks after the divorce was finalized, MacKenzie pledged at least half of her fortune to The Giving Pledge. She credits her pledging the money on her desire to be more philanthropic, saying that her “approach to philanthropy will continue to be thoughtful. It will take time and effort and care. But I won’t wait. And I will keep at it until the safe is empty.” ^[1]

Philanthropic

In 2010 The Giving Pledge was founded by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates and has since been signed by over 200 people, all who have pledged to give away at least half their wealth. Among those who have signed are Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Branson, and Robert F. Smith, and now MacKenzie Bezos. ^[2]

“We each come by the gifts we have to offer by an infinite series of influences and lucky breaks we can never fully understand. In addition to whatever assets life has nurtured in me, I have a disproportionate amount of money to share,” MacKenzie wrote in a letter which explained her commitment to the pledge.

Although Jeff Bezos yet to sign the pledge himself, he did applaud his ex-wife’s moves in a tweet on Tuesday morning.

MacKenzie is going to be amazing and thoughtful and effective at philanthropy, and I’m proud of her. Her letter is so beautiful. Go get ‘em MacKenzie. https://t.co/S2gLLBQyRQ

— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) May 28, 2019