Jeff Bezos Starts a $2 Billion Fund for Schools and the Homeless'We'll use the same set of principles that have driven Amazon. Most important among those will be genuine, intense customer obsession. The child will be the customer,' the Amazon CEO says.
By狗万滚球app•
This story originally appeared onPCMag
Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos is launching a $2 billion fund to help homeless families and build preschools in low-income communities.
Bezos, currently the world's richest person,asked Twitter followersa year ago for ideas about how he should shape his "philanthropy strategy." The new "Bezos Day One Fund" is the result; it'll work to issue "awards" to existing nonprofits that provide shelter and food to homeless young families.
The fund will also launch a network of "full scholarship" preschools based in underserved communities. "We'll use the same set of principles that have driven Amazon. Most important among those will be genuine, intense customer obsession. The child will be the customer," he wrote in his post.
Among the world's top tech CEOs, Bezos is not known for his philanthropy. Hehas not signed on to the Giving Pledge, and theBezos Family Foundationisreportedlyrun by his parents; Bezos does not play an active role.
Bezos has instead invested in things likeThe Washington Post, his space venture Blue Origin and agiant clockin Texas that's designed to run for 10,000 years.
Today's news, meanwhile, comes as Amazon is facing some bad PR over itslabor practices.
"The issue about Amazon is not just that the wealthiest person on earth, Jeff Bezos, is paying workers unlivable wages. It's about the 'new economy' and the degradation of the human spirit -- breaking down people, spitting them out and simply replacing them with new bodies," U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanderstweetedlast week.
Bezos's net worth has been valued at $164 billion. Amazon also recently became the second company, behind Apple, to reach thetrillion-dollarmarket cap.
Bezos's post didn't directly touch on any labor topics. But he said his goal with the new fund is to help ensure that future generations prosper. "If our own great grandchildren don't have lives better than ours, something has gone very wrong," he said.
