Washington Post Calls Out Jeff Bezos’ Charitable Giving: Like the Average American Family Donating $85

Emma McIntyre, Getty Images.

All the money in the world apparently can’t buy you favorable press in your own paper.

On Thursday, the Washington Post took a shot at its owner, Amazon chief Jeff Bezos, by calling attention to his charitable giving — or relative lack thereof. In a feature for the Post’s style section examining the charitable contributions of 50 of the richest Americans, writers Roxanne Roberts and Will Hobson reported that their publicly announced donations since the Covid-19 outbreak add up to less than .001 percent of their combined worth.

Using the figure of $97,300 as the median net worth of the average American household, the Post’s study found that Bezos has given the equivalent of less than a hundred bucks.

From the report:

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, the wealthiest man in the world with a fortune of $143 billion and who is also the owner of The Washington Post, gave $100 million to Feeding America and up to $25 million for All in WA, a statewide relief effort in Washington. For the median American, Bezos’ giving is the equivalent of donating $85. His aerospace company, Blue Origin, pledged to 3-D print face shields for front line workers but did not disclose the value of that contribution.

A recent study (via CNBC) found that Bezos has made $34.6 billion during the pandemic. This while Amazon recently cut $2 per hour hazard pay it had been giving its frontline workers.