As we step out of our third lockdown into uncertain times with millions losing their jobs; businesses crumbling; and food banks struggling to tackle inequality; Rising East looks at the recent Forbes World’s Billionaires List: The Richest in 2021 to find out which of those billionaires has een goving back.
Let’s start at the top. Jeff Bezos is ranked world richest guy with a total net worth of $177 billion. Bezos made the largest charity donation in 2020 according to the Chronicle Of Philanthropy. He made more donations than anyone else in the US. For example in 2018 he donated $2B to help fund educational programs for the homeless, which represented about 1.3% of his net worth at the time. He also donated $10B to combat climate change through the Bezos Earth Fund, and $50 million to the Seattle Foundation for Pandemic Relief Efforts. However, Bezos is the only person among the five richest people in the world who hasn’t pledged to give over half of their wealth to charity during their lifetimes.
Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk is now the world second richest man, with net worth totalling $151B. Disappointingly, there is no record of Musk making any large charitable donations in 2020, which is both saddening and shocking. It appears he is more interested in colonising another planet than saving the people of this one.
Third on the Forbes list is LVMH owner Bernard Arnault, whose donation of $5.9M to research into Covid-19 treatments – carried out in his home town – is his only recorded charitable donation.
Bill Gates and his wife’s foundation handed out $10 M at the start of 2020 to help frontline pandemic response in China and Africa, and an additional $320M later in the year to support the development of more covid tests, vaccines and treatment. Gates also donated $100M to help global detection, isolation and treatment of Covid-19. Gates and Bezos have made the largest charitable donations during the pandemic.
Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook has donated $69.5M to the Centre for Election Innovation and Research and $350M to the Centre for Technology and Civic Life. He has also donated $30M to the Gates Foundation and the Welcome Trust to help fight Covid-19 in 2020.
What is shocking is that only three out of the five richest people in the world are amonst the top 50 most philanthropic people, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy. These are Zukerberg (16th on that list); Gates (13th); and Bezoz (top).
So The Rising East Award For Least Deserving Of Any Award At All goes to…. Elon Musk.