MacKenzie Bezos, worth more than $36 billion after divorcing Amazon (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos, announced on Tuesday that she will give at least half of her fortune to charity.
Bezos’s promise came by signing the Giving Pledge, an initiative founded in 2010 by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett that encourages the world’s wealthiest people to donate more than half of their wealth to charitable causes.
“There are lots of resources each of us can pull from our safes to share with others,” the fiction author stated in a letter published on the Giving Pledge website.
“In addition to whatever assets life has nurtured in me, I have a disproportionate amount of money to share,” MacKenzie Bezos added. “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.”
Bezos previously funded cancer research, and founded the anti-bullying organization Bystander Revolution. She is one of 19 signatories of the Giving Pledge announced on Tuesday.
“The generosity of this group is a reflection of the inspiration we take from the many millions of people who work quietly and effectively to create a better world for others, often at great personal sacrifice,” Warren Buffett said in a statement.
Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos announced their divorce in January, after 25 years of marriage. One month later, Bezos alleged that the National Enquirer tried to blackmail him using intimate photos of him with his mistress, Lauren Sanchez, who was revealed to have been having an affair with the Amazon CEO.
On April 4, MacKenzie Bezos announced that she would give him 75% of her Amazon stock as part of their divorce agreement.
