Bezos pledges to charity, Musk loses shares. Does it really make a difference to their wealth?
While the top tech billionaires in the world seem to be shedding a significant portion of their wealth, be it willingly or unwillingly, we take a quick look at how much of a dent their net worth has taken recently.
The former Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, announced yesterday that he would be donating $123 million to 40 different charities to help fight homelessness in the United States as a part of his $2 billion commitment to his Bezos Day One Families Fund.
In a full press release, the Bezos Day One Families Fund gave a statement alongside the full list of charities it would be providing for. The recipients of the grants span 26 states as well as Puerto Rico.
According to the Bezos Day One Families Fund, the organisation has made a $2 billion commitment to focus on making meaningful and lasting impacts in two areas: funding existing non-profits that help families experiencing homelessness, and creating a network of new, non-profit tier-one preschools in low-income communities.
Earlier this month, Bezos also announced in an interview with CNN, that he has pledged most of his $124 billion fortune to combat the climate crisis and support people who could unify humanity.
Wait. Elon lost 40 billion, Zuckerberg lost 40 billion. Well Bezos, it’s your turn. Instead of losing it why not just donate it to charity?
— Lawnmower Girl | Big Sis Selmor Sandiego (@GirlLawnmower) November 23, 2022
Someone got visited by 3 ghosts last night https://t.co/y4wtVAsdZ6
— Willie Muse (@Williesillie2) November 14, 2022
However, the billionaire has been purposely vague when it came to specificities regarding the donation of his wealth, declining to identify a specific percentage or to provide concrete details on where it would likely be spent.
If you were surprised that Bezos said he was going to give away most of his fortune, allow me to explain.
— Trethan (@TrethanSW) November 21, 2022
He’ll set up a charity his family controls and donate it there, thus giving his money to them without paying all the taxes.
That’s how he’ll “give it away”.
While Bezos claims that his organisation has spent over $500 million over the span of five years towards charity, those measly numbers would account for around 0.5% of his total wealth.
In stark contrast, Bezos’s former partner Mackenzie Scott has given away close to $4 billion to 465 organisations in less than a year. Around half of this amount was donated to 343 organisations in the last seven months.
Meanwhile, the current richest man in the world and the ‘Chief Twit’ at Twitter, Elon Musk, seems to be bleeding chips, having lost over $100 billion of his fortune over the last year.
Musk will be a case study in all kinds of fields, from psychology to failed leadership to "how to destroy wealth faster than any human in history" https://t.co/qWIU7R3Vno
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) November 22, 2022
After purchasing Twitter for $44 billion - the largest leveraged buyout of a technology company in history - Musk’s net worth fell by $9 billion putting him at $203 billion and down roughly 25% since the beginning of the year.
No joke, no human being in world history has lost more wealth in a single year than Elon Musk has in 2022.
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@TheRealHoarse) November 22, 2022
He has lost more wealth than all but a couple people have ever even had.
Literally, he’s history’s biggest loser.
Musk has contributed to the decline by selling Tesla shares worth some $19 billion this year. Musk sold another $22 billion of Tesla stock in 2021, cashing out near the top of a 50% rally in the stock last year.
Musk holds an around 15% stake in Tesla and the decline in the electric vehicle maker's stock price on Monday shaved around $8.6 billion off Musk's wealth in just one day.
— 🗳 Blue (@Winzol) November 22, 2022
🙃
The Twitter and Tesla Inc CEO has experienced such drastic losses to his wealth for the first time, as Tesla shares dropped to the lowest level in two years.
Elon Musk is a one-man argument for the redistribution of wealth.
— Middle Age Riot (@middleageriot) November 18, 2022
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Tesla's chief executive officer (CEO) Elon Musk's wealth has declined over 37% or $101 billion in value in 2022, losing about ₹2,500 crore a day, having peaked over a year ago at $340 billion.
Despite charitable efforts and a plunge in company stocks, according to the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List, as of today, Musk’s total wealth stands at $191.4 billion while Bezos follows in fourth place with $117.5 billion.
When I dream of wealth, I don’t mean like Musk/Bezos— feeding endless vanity projects.
— Mari Brighe (@MariBrighe) November 22, 2022
I mean Addams family rich, where I can take care of all my friends, support charity, pursue my passions, own a house of my exact style, and be an unrepentant gothic weirdo in fancy spaces.
Jeff Bezos is donating all this money to charity to upstage Elon. If all we have to do is band together to destroy rival billionaire companies to get other billionaires to contribute to society I’m honestly all on. I’ll roast the rich for a better tomorrow.
— Glumpygoop (War on Christmas Veteran) (@TrashBrainIdeas) November 18, 2022
It’s more than safe to say that it doesn't really seem like their mountains of gold are fading away anytime soon.