Amazon CEO pledges $2bn to help poorest communities
AMAZON’S founder Jeff Bezos has announced a $2billion (£1.5billion) fund to create nurseries in poor communities and tackle homelessness.
The billionaire chief executive revealed the charity would use a similar setup to his internet business except that “the child will be the customer”.
Mr Bezos said he was starting the charitable organisation, called the Day One Fund, with his wife Mackenzie and making an initial investment of $2 billion.
This would be split into two separate funds. A Families Fund will “issue annual leadership awards to organisations and civic groups doing compassionate, needle-moving work to provide shelter and hunger support [for] young families,” he said.
A separate “Academies Fund” will run “a network of high-quality, fullscholarship, Montessori-inspired pre-schools in underserved communities”.
It comes just weeks after Mr Bezos made his first major political contribution in the form of a $10 million donation to an action committee focused on getting veterans elected.
Mr Bezos, who is the richest man in the world with an estimated net worth of $150billion (£114billion), has previously been criticised for underpaying his staff at Amazon.