Bezos plans to donate most of his $124 bn fortune

San Francisco: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has announced plans to donate most of his $124 billion fortune during his lifetime, at a time when the e-commerce giant is reportedly set to lay off nearly 10,000 workers.

Bezos told CNN that the money will go towards fighting climate change and "supporting people who can unify humanity in the face of deep social and political divisions".

Bezos' partner, the journalist-turned-philanthropist Lauren Sanchez, said the couple is "building the capacity to be able to give away this money". Asked by CNN whether he intends to donate the majority of his wealth within his lifetime, Bezos said: "Yeah, I do."

The fourth-wealthiest person in the world, however, declined to identify a specific percentage or to provide concrete details on where it would likely be spent. The Amazon founder has committed $10 billion over 10 years, or about 8 per cent of his current net worth, to the Bezos Earth Fund co-chaired by Sanchez. In May this year, Bezos donated $118 million to a nonprofit, but it was unclear to which nonprofit he made the donation.

According to a Securities and Exchange Filings (SEC) filing, Bezos transferred 47,727 shares of Amazon stock to an unnamed nonprofit, worth a total of $118 million based on that day's closing stock price, reports Forbes.