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Jeff Bezos has pledged to give away the “majority” of his $116 billion fortune in his lifetime — but when it comes to signing the Giving Pledge, the Amazon founder is staying mum.
The Pledge, launched by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett in 2010, is a campaign that encourages billionaires from various industries to commit to giving away at least half of their wealth to charity during their lifetime.
Specifically, it is a non-binding obligation: its founders describe it as a “moral obligation,” and critics argue that its loose rules are unenforceable. So far, 236 billionaires have signed it, including Gates and Buffett, as well as Elon Musk and Bezos’ ex-wife Mackenzie Scott.
But Bezos, whose recent announcement followed years of criticism over his relative lack of philanthropic giving, isn’t the only billionaire who hasn’t signed the pledge. He lacks the signatures of seven of the world’s 11 richest people, based on Bloomberg’s list of billionaires as of this week.
None of the seven responded to CNBC Make It’s request for comment.
Here’s who they are and what their philanthropic efforts have looked like so far.
Bernard Arnault: $157 billion net worth
Bernard Arnault is the co-founder and CEO of luxury goods conglomerate LVMH and the second richest person in the world, according to Bloomberg.
In the past, the French billionaire’s net worth approached $200 billion. He topped Bloomberg’s list of the richest people in the world several times, the last time in 2021.
Arnault did not sign the oath, nor did he publicly comment on the pledge. There are no public records showing the extent of Arnault’s charitable donations.
However, LVMH released a statement online highlighting the company’s philanthropic mission and noting the Arnaud family’s hefty donation of $226 million in 2019 to help fund repairs to Paris’ iconic Notre Dame cathedral, after a devastating fire severely damaged the landmark that year. .
Gautam Adani: $130 billion net worth
Gautam Adani is the chairman and founder of the Adani Group, one of India’s largest industrial conglomerates. He is the richest person in India and the third richest in the world, according to Bloomberg.
His net worth has nearly doubled since this time last year, as his company has made a series of acquisitions to expand into industries such as coal and transportation.
He has also stepped up his philanthropic efforts over the past year: In June, he pledged a $7.7 billion donation to his Adani Foundation, the philanthropic arm of his company that supports social causes in India, such as education and healthcare programs.
Jeff Bezos: $116 billion net worth
Bezos donated more than $2.4 billion during his lifetime, according to Forbes. He also pledged to distribute a total of $10 billion through his own climate nonprofit, the Bezos Earth Fund.
But the billionaire has sidestepped questions about the pledge for years, especially after his ex-wife Scott signed it shortly after their 2019 divorce.
Scott became one of America’s most celebrated philanthropists. Bezos’ critics are still waiting for him to offer more concrete details on how he intends to distribute his vast wealth to charity.
Without those details, it’s hard to analyze how his announcement last week differs from signing the Pledge of Giving, and why he made such a similar commitment without joining many of his fellow tech billionaires.
Larry Page: $88.7 billion net worth
In 2014, Google co-founder Larry Page said he had no plans to leave all of his wealth to his two children. He hasn’t committed to leaving his net worth to charity either.
Instead, the billionaire said in a TED interview that he would rather give most of his wealth to entrepreneurs with big ideas to change the world for the better. At the time, Page cited Elon Musk as one example: “He wants to go to Mars. It’s a worthy goal.”
Walk reported in 2019 that Page has donated over $2 billion to his own philanthropic foundation since 2004. The vast majority of those contributions have ended up in donor-advised funds, which critics argue can be used as a vehicle for tax breaks.
Mukesh Ambani: $88.2 billion net worth
Mukesh Ambani, the ninth richest person in the world, is the chairman of Reliance Industries, an energy and telecommunications conglomerate and India’s most valuable company.
He was recently named one of India’s most generous philanthropists by research group Hurun India after he reportedly donated more than $50 million to charity earlier in 2022.
In 2010, Ambani founded the Reliance Foundation, the philanthropic arm of his company and one of the largest non-profit organizations in India. The foundation focuses on initiatives that provide health care and educational scholarships, as well as agricultural infrastructure in rural farming communities, according to its website.
Steve Ballmer: $86.3 billion net worth
Steve Ballmer’s absence from the Giving Pledge might come as a surprise: He was one of Microsoft’s earliest employees, rising to the role of chairman and Gates’ right-hand man before succeeding his friend as CEO in 2000. Much of Ballmer’s wealth comes from his 4% stake in Microsoft.
But Ballmer said he and Gates had “fallen apart” since he stepped down from the company in 2014, which could explain why he hasn’t signed the pledge Gates co-founded.
Today, Ballmer serves as chairman of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, which he bought in 2014. He’s also quite active on the philanthropic front: He and his wife, Connie, run the nonprofit Ballmer Group, which gave away more than $420 million to charitable causes last year, according to on the group’s website.
Sergey Brin: $84.9 billion net worth
Like fellow Google co-founder Page, Sergey Brin did not sign the pledge. The world’s 11th richest person, Brin has not spoken publicly about the pledge or how much he plans to give away during his lifetime.
In the past, Brin has donated money to causes including the STEM-focused educational nonprofit Girls Who Code and a reported $63 million gift earlier this year to the Michael J. Fox, which funds research into a cure for Parkinson’s disease.
In 2009, Brin also donated $1 million to the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the organization that helped him and his family escape the Soviet Union and migrate to the US when he was a child.
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