MacKenzie Bezos pledges to donate half her fortune

MacKenzie Bezos, who has finalized her divorce agreement with Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, pledged to give more than half of her 37-billion-dollar fortune to charity. According to Forbes’ world’s billionaires list in March, Jeff Bezos is the richest man in the world with a net worth of 112 billion dollars.

MacKenzie recently joined Warren Buffett's Giving Pledge, a charitable campaign that encourages billionaires to give away more than half of their fortune, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday (local time).

“I have a disproportionate amount of money to share,” MacKenzie said in a statement. “And I will keep at it until the safe is empty.” Her ex-husband Bezos wrote on his Twitter account, “MacKenzie is going to be amazing and thoughtful and effective at philanthropy, and I’m proud of her. Her letter is so beautiful.”

Bloomberg wrote that MacKenzie’s decision draws contrast to Bezos, who was criticized for his “relatively restrained philanthropic efforts to date.” In 2017, Jeff Bezos took to Twitter and wrote, “For Philanthropy, I find I’m drawn to the other end of the spectrum. Amazon, Washington Postㅡall of these are contributing to society and civilization in their own ways.” Bezos has yet to sign the Giving Pledge


Taek Kyoon Sohn sohn@donga.com