Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, in his interview with CNBC, said his businesses do more good to the society than his charity works. Elon Musk seemed to have agreed with that. “If I do my job right, the value to society and civilization from my for-profit companies will be much, much larger than the good that I do with my charitable giving,” Bezos said.“I get letters from new mothers all the time who say, ‘We don’t know what we’d do if we didn’t have Amazon, thank you,’ or what we did in the pandemic when people could actually see that what essential service we were actually providing to them. And that’s how Amazon and all companies are creating jobs,” Bezos said.Elon Musk shared this clip in particular and let the Internet know that he also agrees with Bezos.Forbes estimated that Bezos has donated more than $2.4 billion to charity in his lifetime. Bezos and his wife Lauren Sanchez have committed $10 billion to the Bezos Earth Fund by 2030 and they have given $2.4 billion as of February. They also run a series of tuition-free preschools and provide temporary housing for people experiencing homelessness through the Day 1 Families Fund. Bezos’ ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, has given over $26 billion to date to charities. In 2025, she gave away more than anyone on Earth and has donated 46% of her total net worth.
Here’s how social media users reacted
- Social media users debated whether what Bezos said is the most honest thing one of the richest people ever said or whether it was just the most convenient thing to say.
- Unless they are donating money to politicians, then they are super generous, one wrote.
- I’d prefer them have zero philanthropy cause when they do, we end up with mutant ticks, another wrote.
- Disgusting and deeply hypocritical. For-profit corporations exist to maximize profit, not serve humanity, a third user wrote.
