MacKenzie Bezos pledges to donate half her $37b fortune

By Umar Farooq

WASHINGTON (AA) - MacKenzie Bezos, the ex-wife of Amazon's founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, has promised to donate half of her roughly $37 billion fortune to charity, joining 18 other philanthropists Tuesday who committed to "help tackle society’s most pressing problems".

Bezos signed the Giving Pledge, a global commitment by some of the world's wealthiest people to donate the majority of their wealth to charitable causes either in their lifetimes or in their wills.

The newly minted billionaire received her large fortune in what could be the costliest divorce in history. Bezos now has an estimated worth of $36.6 billion and currently ranks 22nd on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The Giving Pledge organization was founded by Warren Buffet and Bill and Melinda Gates in 2010. So far, it has brought in 204 signatories who have joined the campaign and pledged to donate half their wealth.

"In addition to whatever assets life has nurtured in me, 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," Bezos said in a letter on the organization's website.

The Amazon CEO praised his former wife’s decision, saying she will be a great philanthropist.

"MacKenzie is going to be amazing and thoughtful and effective at philanthropy, and I’m proud of her. Her letter is so beautiful. Go get ‘em MacKenzie," he said on Twitter.