Founder of Amazon Jeff BezosThe billionaire said in an interview with CNN on Monday that he will give away most of his $124 billion fortune during his lifetime.

Without elaborating, Bezos said he and his partner are a journalist-turned-philanthropist. Lauren SanchezThey were “Building capacity to deliver this money”.

“The hard part is figuring out how to leverage it”, Bezos said during the interview. “Not easy. Building Amazon wasn’t easy. It took a lot of hard work and really smart teammates. I’m finding — and Lauren is finding — philanthropy is very similar. Not easy. It’s very hard.”

Bezos has been criticized in the past for not signing the Giving Pledge, a campaign started by Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates and Warren Buffett to encourage them to donate more of their wealth to philanthropy.

The billionaire has previously promised to make allocations 10,000 million dollars for the fight against climate change and nature conservation Through the Bezos Earth Fund, of which he is CEO. He also announced a $200 million donation to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

A 20-minute exchange between couples and CNN Covers a variety of topics From Bezos’ comments on political discourse and a possible economic downturn to Sanchez’s plan to go into space with an all-female crew and her ideas about a growing business partnership with Bezos.

In a question, the reporter asked the tycoon if he would like to donate most of his assets in life, to which he replied. That’s your idea.

Despite being one of the four richest people in the world, Bezos refused to set a goal for how much he would give away for the rest of his life, CNN explained.

Bezos’ philanthropic activities contrast with those of his ex-wife. Mackenzie ScottHe returned to philanthropy soon after his divorce, recently giving nearly $4 billion to 465 organizations in less than a year.

In an interview with American media, Bezos admitted that he had He has committed to giving away $10 billion over 10 years, or about 8% of his current net worth, Sanchez co-chairs the Bezos Fund for the Earth. He also explained that his priorities include: reduce the carbon footprint of cement and steel for construction; pressure on financial regulators to take climate-related risks into account; developing data and mapping technologies to track carbon emissions; and create large-scale natural plant-based carbon sinks.

On how to prepare donations and how much time it takes to set good goals, he explained, “There are many ways you can do that too. useless things“, he added. “So You have to think about it You have to have smart people on the team.

With many analysts warning of the possibility of a recession in the short or medium term in the current economic climate, Bezos suggested that small businesses and people in general avoid taking risks at this time and wait if they plan to make large purchases. Little

“The economy doesn’t look good right now, things are slowing down, we’re seeing layoffs in many sectors, and probability says, if we’re not in a recession right now, we’ll be very soon. So my advice to small businesses is don’t take the risk now,” he said.

Bezos, who will step down as Amazon CEO in 2021, owns about 10% of the e-commerce giant, along with the Washington Post news agency and space tourism company Blue Origin.

Saturday, country music star and philanthropist Dolly Parton He received $100 million in the “Bezos Courage & Civility Award,” an honor that recognizes leaders who “pursue solutions with courage and civility.” Scholarships should go to organizations of the winner’s choosing.

In the promotional video, the 76-year-old singer exclaims “Oh! You said 100 million dollars? And he declared that he would do all he could to “do good things with that money.”

Some of the recipients of the Bezos-founded award include Van Jones, commentator and founder of the Dream Corps organization, and Spanish chef José Andrés, who runs the World Central Kitchen Foundation.

(With information from Reuters, AP, EFE)

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