Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s CEO, just announced that he will launch the Day One Fund.
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) September 13, 2018
Day One Fund
Bezos is currently one of the wealthiest men in modern history, with a net worth of around $150 billion. The CEO will put $2 billion into this new ‘Day One Fund’ that is aimed at helping homeless families.
“MacKenzie and I share a belief in the potential for hard work from anyone to serve others,” Bezos said in the tweet above, referring to his wife, MacKenzie Bezos.
The $2 billion will be split between the Day 1 Families Fund and the Day 1 Academies Fund, which will create a new network of non-profit, tier-one preschools for low-income communities.
Bezos explained a little more about the reasons for starting his Day One Fund in the tweet and said:
“By so many important measures the world keeps getting better, and it’s one of the fantastic aspects of human nature that we humans never stop looking for (and finding!) ways to improve things. Our lives are better than our great grandparents’ lives, and their lives were better than their great grandparents’ lives before them. If our own great grandchildren don’t have lives better than ours, something has gone very wrong. Where’s the good in the world, and how can we spread it? Where are the opportunities to make things better? These are exciting questions.”
Bezos Critics Pipe Up
Any major announcement is expected to have some pushback, and that’s exactly what Bezos received.
https://twitter.com/sproggar/status/1040256461870391299
Another.
-pay your employees a living wage
-let them use the bathroom when they need to
-let them go to the hospital when they're bleeding profusely
-stop trying to take over every single industry— . (@MarisaKabas) September 13, 2018
And another.
Billionaire 101:
1) Pay the lowest wages you can.
2) Avoid paying taxes.
3) Use a tiny bit of the money you made to make yourself look good by cleaning up a tiny bit of the mess you made..— miroirdufou (@miroirdufou) September 13, 2018
While Amazon may need some restructuring, the fact that he’s starting the fund at all is a positive one. Regardless of the tax breaks. According to data from Statista, in 2017 Amazon had over 560,000 employees.
In 2007, Amazon only had around 17,000 employees. While their wages may be low, the jobs they’ve created is astounding.
This was Amazon in 1999.
He is Jeff Bezos! CEO of Amazon in 1999's picture.
Next time, if you want to give up, REMEMBER HIM. #technology #motivation #management #innovation #humanresources #futurism #careers #personaldevelopment #personalbranding pic.twitter.com/N0xTfCAQo8— ʸᵃˢⁱʳ ᴬˡⁱ (@myasiraly) September 13, 2018
>> Walmart Invests in the Third Int. Grocery Delivery Service of the Year
Amazon Stock Movement (NASDAQ:AMZN)
According to Yahoo Finance, the Day One Fund didn’t help Amazon’s stock today. At press time, AMZN is currently trading at $1,964.95 a share, down -$24.92 (-1.25%).
Featured Image: Flickr
