Jeff Bezos’s bank account is a little lighter after the Amazon founder donated close to $120 million to an unidentified non-profit.
According to Securities and Exchange Filings obtained by Forbes, the billionaire transferred 47,727 shares of Amazon stock to a non-profit, whose identify wasn’t disclosed in the documents. The shares are worth approximately $118 million.
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Bezos has been generous with his philanthropic contributions this year. He’s donated 84,030 Amazon shares (totalling $233 million) to a selection of unnamed non-profits since the start of 2022. Forbes notes that the businessman prefers to donate to non-profits via Amazon shares, since the receiving organization won’t have to pay taxes.
Securities and Exchange Filings don’t require Bezos to disclose who he donates his funds to, but the billionaire has a history of announcing the non-profit’s name after making a sizeable donation.
In the past, he’s donated non-profits like Barack Obama’s Foundation, which received $100 million from Bezos last November. The same month, he spread $100 million between a variety of non-profits aimed at helping the homeless.
It’s suspected Bezos’s recent contribution may have been directed to an environmental non-profit as part his Bezos Earth Fund. He’s pledged to donate $10 billion to help fight climate change. Since its founding two years ago, the fund says it’s donated $1.4 billion.
“I want to work alongside others both to amplify known ways and to explore new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change on this planet we all share,” he said in an Instagram post announcing the $10 billion pledge in February 2020.
“This global initiative will fund scientists, activists, NGOs — any effort that offers a real possibility to help preserve and protect the natural world,” he continued.
While a $10 billion contribution will go a long way, as Vox pointed out in 2020, this represented less than 8% of Bez’s $130 billion net worth at the time. It’s now reported he’s worth at least $150 billion.
Bezos’s philanthropic initiatives don’t compete with his ex-wife Mackenzie Scott, who pledged to give away at least half of her billion-dollar fortune to charity following her 2019 divorce from Bezos. She walked away with a 4% stake in Amazon following their split, valued at $38 billion at the time.
In March alone, Scott donated $281 million to the Boys & Girls Club as well as $436 million to Habitat for Humanity.
Scott is reported to be the wealthiest woman in the world, but she may not retain the title for long if she continues to make good on her charitable promise.
Sources: Instagram @jeffbezos, Forbes, Vox, Fortune,
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