After walking away with $36.6 billion from her divorce settlement with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos last month, MacKenzie Bezos has committed to donating half of her massive fortune to charity.
MacKenzie Bezos, an author and the founder and executive director of anti-bullying organization Bystander Revolution, signed The Giving Pledge earlier this month, following in the footsteps of dozens of other billionaires.
The pledge, created by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates in 2010, is a non-legally binding vow made by some of the world’s wealthiest individuals and families to give away at least half of their wealth to charitable causes during their lifetime or in their will.
Over 204 wealthy individuals, couples and families across 23 countries have signed the agreement, including former New York City mayor and media mogul Michael Bloomberg, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk and Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
“We each come by the gifts we have to offer by an infinite series of influences and lucky breaks we can never fully understand,” MacKenzie Bezos wrote in a letter announcing her pledge dated May 25.
“In addition to whatever assets life has nurtured in me, I have a disproportionate amount of money to share,” she continued. “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.”
MacKenzie Bezos and Jeff Bezos finalized their divorce ― one of the most expensive of all time ― in April. She agreed to relinquish all of her interests in The Washington Post, Blue Origin and 75% of their Amazon stock, leaving her with $36.6 billion worth of Amazon stock.
Jeff Bezos has an estimated net worth of $157 billion, making him the richest person in the world. Unlike his ex-wife, he has not signed The Giving Pledge.