Jeff Bezos slammed for Amazon donation to Australian wildfire relief: 'He is effectively donating 4.6 minutes of money'
Jeff Bezos and Amazon are stepping up in the wake of the devastating Australian wildfires that have claimed the lives of 27 people and an estimated one billion animals.
The Amazon CEO posted on his personal Instagram account Sunday night to share with consumers that the company would be donating 1 million AUD in disaster relief aid:
A post shared by Jeff Bezos (@jeffbezos) on Jan 11, 2020 at 10:17pm PST
"Our hearts go out to all Australians as they cope with these devastating bushfires," Bezos captioned the photo of a firefighter in the Australian countryside, "Amazon is donating 1 million AU dollars in needed provisions and services. Find more about it and learn how customers can help as well. Link in bio."
1 million AUD roughly translates to $690,000.
The internet, however, was not having it with Bezos' elected donation amount, claiming that the billionaire could have done much more to provide help to Australia:
Jeff Bezos makes $149,340 a minute. So he is effectively donating 4.6 minutes of money. If he donated what he makes in a day, that would be $215 million, which would still not be enough. https://t.co/dl4R5VjdKB
— Reina Skulltan (@SultanReina) January 12, 2020
Last year, @JeffBezos earned $215 million per day. https://t.co/D0zsTRLPuI
— Sleeping Giants (@slpng_giants) January 13, 2020
This is the percentage of total net worth that Jeff Bezos donated to the Australian fires 🔥 THIS IS WHY WE SHOULD EAT THE RICH pic.twitter.com/s1ibMkUSPc
— Lil Thanos Thiccie (@mabitxch) January 13, 2020
Jeff Bezos is worth ~$116 billion. This is approximately 0.00059% of his fortune. If you had $50,000, this would be the equivalent of donating less than $30. And winning headlines for it https://t.co/IzQlCMMozh
— Brian Merchant (@bcmerchant) January 12, 2020
"This is approximately 0.00059% of his fortune," Twitter user Brian Merchant pointed out.
"He is effectively donating 4.6 minutes of money," another user Reina Sultan noted.
Jeff Bezos is currently worth $116.7 billion.
Bezos' Instagram account linked to a blog post on Amazon's site that outlined three different ways the company would be allocating funds and resources to provide aid.
The first is by donating tangible and high-demand items to organizations in Australia via a wishlist provided by non-profit BlazeAid. Items "including water, food, safety clothing, building materials, and more, have been specifically requested by BlazeAid as essential to aid their volunteers in the recovery efforts," the post read.
On the technical front, Amazon will be providing "in-kind technical support for many of the government agencies dealing with the response and recovery efforts" via Amazon Web Services. Some of these organizations include Geoscience and Digital Earth Australia and specific state agencies.
Bezos and Amazon will also be doling out cash donations to "relief agencies including the Australian Red Cross, the Salvation Army Australia, WIRES, and Rural and Country Fire Services."
For those interested in donating via Amazon. there is the option to shop the wishlist provided by BlazeAid on Amazon's Australian site. The retail giant will deliver the purchased items to the designated sites.
"We are amazed and humbled by the individuals, organizations, and agencies leading the response and recovery efforts across Australia," Amazon said, "We are proud to be part of a strong community."
