After 25 years of marriage, the recent divorce between Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his ex-wife MacKenzie, left her to become one of the richest women in the world. Now, MacKenzie joins the ranks of some of the wealthiest people in the world by entering “The Giving Pledge.”
This philanthropic effort was created a decade ago by Warren and Jill Buffett and Bill Gates, encouraging participants to pledge the majority of their wealth to charitable efforts and donations. Pledgers include 204 individuals across 23 countries, including the founder of WhatsApp, Pinterest, and Mark Zuckerburg, founder of Facebook. To date, Jeff Bezos is the wealthiest man in the world with a net worth of $131 billion and hasn’t committed to this pledge.
In a written statement, MacKenzie advises, “My 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.”
Jeff took to Twitter and praised his ex-wife, stating, “MacKenzie is going to be amazing and thoughtful and effective at philanthropy, and I’m proud of her.” While the plans aren’t clear as to what all she intends to do with the money, the intent is obvious that she wants to be generous and pay it forward.
