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She made the announcement just two months after her divorce from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. After her split, she became the world’s richest woman, accumulating wealth estimated to be more than $36 billion. She acquired 4% of the company in the settlement. She has now decided to give half her wealth, after which she will join the ranks of investor Warren Buffet and Microsoft’s Bill Gates, in the Giving Pledge.
“I have a disproportionate amount of money to share. 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,” she wrote in a letter making her announcement of joining the Giving Pledge on Tuesday. Her former husband, Jeff, appreciated her decision.
Jeff Bezos has not taken the pledge, he, however, has announced to spend $2 billion of his $150 billion fortune on charity.
“MacKenzie is going to be amazing and thoughtful and effective at philanthropy, and I’m proud of her,” Jeff wrote on Twitter.
According to its website, the pledge is a public promise rather than a legal contract which states, “The goal is to talk about giving in an open way and create an atmosphere that can draw more people into philanthropy.”
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan took the pledge in 2015 and announced that they will donate 99% of their shares in the company for a good cause.
Read more: Amazon’s Jeff Bezos unveils $2 bn philanthropic fund
Pledges this year have come from the Hedge fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones, Jeremy Grantham-the co-founder of US investment firm GMO and Emirati businessman Sheikh Mohammad Bin Musallam bin Ham Al Ameri. Jeff Bezos has not taken the pledge, he, however, has announced to spend $2 billion of his $150 billion fortune on charity; providing shelter to homeless and establishing a network of schools.