Mackenzie Bezos, the billionaire ex-wife of Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos, has this week pledged to give away half of her fortune to charity, following the example of other billionaires such as Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates.
Bezos, who divorced Jeff earlier this year, is the latest signatory to the 'Giving Pledge' - an initiative started by Gates and Buffett that asks the world's super rich to donate or leave half of their fortunes to charity.
Jeff Bezos is currently the world's richest man with an estimated fortune of around $131bn (£103bn) from his Amazon empire.
In an open letter declaring her decision, Mackenzie Bezos said: "I have no doubt that tremendous value comes when people act quickly on the impulse to give. No drive has more positive ripple effects than the desire to be of service.
"There are lots of resources each of us can pull from our safes to share with others - time, attention, knowledge, patience, creativity, talent, effort, humour, compassion.
"And sure enough, something greater rises up every time we give: the easy breathing of a friend we sit with when we had other plans, the relief on our child's face when we share the story of our own mistake, laughter at the well-timed joke we tell to someone who is crying, the excitement of the kids in the school we send books to, the safety of the families who sleep in the shelters we fund.
"These immediate results are only the beginning. Their value keeps multiplying and spreading in ways we may never know."
She continued: "We each come by the gifts we have to offer by an infinite series of influences and lucky breaks we can never fully understand.
"In addition to whatever assets life has nurtured in me, I have a disproportionate amount of money to share.
"My approach to philanthropy will continue to be thoughtful. It will take time and effort and care. But I won't wait. And I will keep at it until the safe is empty."
Alongside Bezos, there are currently 204 people who have signed up to Giving Pledge.
Amongst them are a variety of incredibly wealthy people including Middle Eastern royalty and members of the Russian Oligarchy.
As well as those, there are some more recognisable names such as Michael Bloomberg, Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg, Virgin supremo Richard Branson, and Tesla owner Elon Musk.
Giving Pledge was started in 2010 as 'an effort to help address society's most pressing problems by inviting the world's wealthiest individuals and families to commit to giving more than half of their wealth to philanthropy or charitable causes either during their lifetime or in their will'.
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