She got half, now she's giving half :)

https://www.npr.org/2019/05/28/727612204/mackenzie-bezos-pledges-to-give-more-than-half-of-her-billions-to-charity

MacKenzie Bezos, who received more than $35 billion in her divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has signed the Giving Pledge, making a commitment to give more than half her fortune to charity or philanthropic causes.

"We each come by the gifts we have to offer by an infinite series of influences and lucky breaks we can never fully understand," Bezos wrote in a letter announcing her pledge. "In addition to whatever assets life has nurtured in me, I have a disproportionate amount of money to share."

As one of the wealthiest women in the world — and the ex-wife of a billionaire who has not signed the Giving Pledge — Bezos is the most prominent name on the list of new signatories to the pledge.

Jeff Bezos celebrated the news, saying via Twitter, "MacKenzie is going to be amazing and thoughtful and effective at philanthropy, and I'm proud of her."

Discussing her pledge, MacKenzie Bezos, a novelist, quoted from Annie Dillard's The Writing Life:

"Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book... The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better... Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes."

By signing the Giving Pledge, wealthy benefactors promise to give away more than half their assets, either during their life or after their death. The group does not require donors to name the organizations or causes they plan to support with the bulk of their fortunes.

Bezos said she will give careful thought to how she distributes the money. And in what may be a sign that she intends to far exceed the pledge's requirement of giving away more than half her money, she added, "It will take time and effort and care. But I won't wait. And I will keep at it until the safe is empty."

That's an admirable thing to do, but honestly, even if I had that level of money I would never sign such a pledge. Just engage in philanthropy and people will see what you are doing soon enough.

Jordan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>yes. I would be more impressed if she used it to raise the salaries of those poor grunts toiling in her warehouses. Not to mention the contract employees there who don’t even get benefits.

As it is, she’ll maybe make a foundation like Bill Gates where he controls how every penny is spent and the terms for every grant.

Why the divorce ?

Dave the Atheist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Why the divorce ?

He had a girlfriend...

Pu**y tax.

How about she earned it? She did. She made it possible for him to accumulate that wealth and was his wife before amazon. I’m surprised she didn’t get more.

Or we could change corporate law in this country so “entrepreneurs” aka “job creators” can’t accumulate that kind of wealth at the expense of their workers and the american taxpayers (read:me).

This man’s greed is obscene. He’s obscene and his accomplishment is unimpressive. He had the legal wind at his back the whole time.

Another example of someone donating in this case 18 billion dollars vs the church's donation of 2 billion over 20 years.

It was once pointed out that Bill Gates as the riches person in the world could lose 99.9% of his wealth and still be richer than 99.9% of the people in the world.

Hard to imagine how much money MacKenzie has.

As my university of Utah Jazz band professor Henry said during a fundraiser on the radio encouraging people to call in: “remember, it doesn’t cost anything to pledge.”

jay Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ... “remember, it doesn’t cost anything to pledge.”

Ha! She does sound sincere, but as they say, talk is cheap!

He is proud of her, but not too proud or he might not have cheated on her.

I wonder if she might be able to give RFM a million dollars or two? ;o))

I wouldn't want to be her in terms of having my husband cheat on me and have it SO PUBLIC. I hope she's laughing all the way to the bank.

I say good for her. It is her money to do with what she chooses.

cl2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I wouldn't want to be her in terms of having my
> husband cheat on me and have it SO PUBLIC. I hope
> she's laughing all the way to the bank.
>
> I say good for her. It is her money to do with
> what she chooses.

Yeah, and I wonder if this public pledge isn't JUST A LITTLE to show up, you know, how generous and good she is, compared to the cheating ex-husband??? :) :) :) payback....

She will probably found some charitable family foundation she can keep control of.

It saves on taxes and helps many causes, so everyone comes out happy.