Jeff Bezos has a new mission, and he's throwing $2 billion into the mix to get it started.
Bezos and his wife Mackenzie have launched the Bezos Day One Fund to fight homelessness and fund preschool education, the Amazon founder announced Thursday. It's the biggest charitable contribution yet from the world's richest man.
Bezos' $167 billion net worth makes him one of a handful of the world's wealthiest people who hasn't joined The Giving Pledge, which devotes signers to giving a majority of their money away over the course of their life. Instead, Bezos tweeted last June that he'd rather help people "here and now," asking for suggestions to spark his philanthropic activity. A year later, Bezos has revealed two areas he's decided to focus his giving on.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
So in a Thursday tweet, Bezos announced the two-part Day One Fund, which appears to be his flagship charity. The Day 1 Families Fund will benefit existing nonprofits that provide "immediate" assistance and shelter to needy families. The Day 1 Academies Fund will run "a network of high-quality, full-scholarship, Montessori-inspired preschools in underserved communities."
It's all aimed at making future generations' lives better than the ones we lead today, Bezos said. Read his full statement below. Kathryn Krawczyk
-
China and Taiwan's war of words ahead of anniversary paradeUnder The Radar Neighbours both claim to have led the fighting during World War Two
-
Epstein files: Maxwell courts a pardonFeature A new prison transcript shows Ghislaine Maxwell praising Trump as 'a gentleman' while denying his involvement in the Epstein scandal
-
Pentagon readies military deployment in ChicagoFeature The Pentagon is preparing to deploy thousands of Illinois National Guard members to Chicago after Trump threatened to send troops into other major cities
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
