For Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, philanthropy is ‘saved for later’

SAN FRANCISCO: Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff Bezos may have surpassed Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates to be the richest person in the world, but there’s one title he isn’t likely to claim: world’s most generous. Even with more than. $90 billion to his name, Bezos has yet to make a major philanthropic mark, but with the new mantle of the world’s richest, the pressure on Bezos to give will only grow. Nonprofits and other foundations are desperate to see what he’ll do, says giving consultant and researcher Amy Schiller. “Bezos has probably had philanthropy in his mental cart for a while,” she says, “and kept clicking ‘save for later.”’

As Gates built Microsoft, he also faced increasing pressure from the public — and even his own parents —to give more. When his mother prodded him one night, Gates snapped back, “I’m just trying to run my company!” the Wall Street Journal reported in 2009. Gates didn’t fully throw himself into philanthropy until he stepped down as CEO of Microsoft in 2000, but since then he’s helped build the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation into the largest foundation in the country. A representative said Gates was unavailable to comment.

“Jeff is probably not quite ready to step down yet, but this is a guy who, like Bill, is fixated on changing the world in really important ways,” says Ed Lazowska, Bill & Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, who has solicited donations from Bezos. “It’s a full-time job. You have to imagine he will be every bit as philanthropic as Gates. Nobody has any right to make demands, and they have to give the guy time.” Amazon declined to comment.