Business

Study: Bezos, Zuckerberg among billionaires that gave less than 0.1 percent of wealth to pandemic relief

Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, and Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO and founder of Facebook, are among the U.S. billionaires that have publicly contributed less than 0.1 percent of their wealth to pandemic relief, according to a survey from The Washington Post. 

The survey from the Post found that the 50 wealthiest people and families, who have a collective net worth of nearly $1.6 trillion, have contributed $1 billion in publicly announced donations. 

Of the billionaires the Post surveyed, Bezos and Zuckerberg are among those whose ventures have continued to flourish among the pandemic that has left more than 30 million people unemployed. 

Zuckerberg donated $58 million for medical research and aid for the Bay Area, which the Post found equated to $84 for the average American. Bezos has donated $100 million to Feeding America and up to $25 million for All in WA, a statewide relief effort in Washington, which is equivalent to donating $85.

Bill Gates and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey are among those the Post found have donated more significant portions of their wealth. 

Gates has donated $300 million to date through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Dorsey has donated $1 billion of his shares in the mobile payment company Square — about 28 percent of his then-$3.6 billion net worth. 

The Post survey found billionaire hedge fund founder and investor Ray Dalio is the most generous among the 50 wealthiest Americans; since April, Dalio has pledged more than $100 million to efforts including child care for hospital workers, food for the needy, and laptops for children of lower-income families.