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Bezos gets in on space action

Incredible, but I also think he’s not known for charitable giving.

I like to think if I was sitting on $150 billion I could find a way to meaningfully impact millions of lives. What a shame if he croaked tomorrow and never had the chance to do something like that.
 
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Speaking of charitable giving (from the same link I posted earlier in the thread)...

"Bill Gates, the number two richest on Forbes rankings, is worth about $56 billion less, or $93.6 billion. Gates has given more than $35 billion to philanthropy in the past several decades, mostly via gifts of Microsoft stock and primarily to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. (Forbes excludes charitable giving from individuals’ net worth.) At one point in 1999, Gates’ net worth briefly hit $100 billion -- which would be worth $151.2 billion today, in inflation-adjusted dollars, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics."
 
I just read an article saying basically how much would Bezos life change if he was worth only $50 billion versus $150 billion (answer not much) versus if he had dispersed that $100 billion to his employees (each 566,000 would get over $176k each).
A huge chunk of that is in equities. If Bezos gave $100 billion, at least half of those 566,000 employees would attempt to cash out immediately, sending Amazon, the market and the larger economy tumbling.
 
A huge chunk of that is in equities. If Bezos gave $100 billion, at least half of those 566,000 employees would attempt to cash out immediately, sending Amazon, the market and the larger economy tumbling.
RAY: What he means is Old Testament biblical, Mr. Mayor. Real wrath-of-God-type stuff. Fire and brimstone coming from the sky! Rivers and seas boiling!

EGON: Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes! Volcanoes!

WINSTON: The dead rising from the grave!

PETER: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!
 
Remember when all you could get on Amazon was books and its main competition was Barnes & Noble.....what a simple time.
Or them being mocked for not turning a profit for year after year and naysayers pointing out that w nobody would buy (insert item) online without seeing it /holding it first.

150 billion is such a staggering amount. Think of it this way:
If he decided to build a 50 million dollar house it would be 1/3000th of his wealth. So if you had 150K in you checking, savings and and retirement, it would be the same impact to him as you spending 50 bucks on Five Guys.
 
Or them being mocked for not turning a profit for year after year and naysayers pointing out that w nobody would buy (insert item) online without seeing it /holding it first.

150 billion is such a staggering amount. Think of it this way:
If he decided to build a 50 million dollar house it would be 1/3000th of his wealth. So if you had 150K in you checking, savings and and retirement, it would be the same impact to him as you spending 50 bucks on Five Guys.
Jeff Bezos could take his "50 bucks" and walk in to every Five Guys in the US (1,500 total) and drop over $33K each. That's a lot of burgers.
 
One could easily argue that guys like Bezos, Gates etc. have already done more for others just creating and building their companies. How many millionaires have they made, how many smaller businesses have their companies created a need for. They also give to charity at a level expected with their wealth. Unlike many rich people who donate $1000 and think they are philanthropists. At the end of the day if it is legal and your money you are under no obligation to help others.
 
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At the end of the day if it is legal and your money you are under no obligation to help others.
I don't think anyone will argue that point.

What I think is worth wondering is if there's an incumbent social responsibility for the few that are that wealthy.

Amazon is known for working their employees extremely hard, in a cut throat environment, and of course that's part of the company's success. You don't $885bn in market cap by spending frivolously. However I'd be curious if there wasn't some additional trickle up value to AZMN (be it in reduced turnover, increased job ownership, productivity, etc...) in rewarding the rank and file with a bit more in the way of stock options rather than continuing to enrich already uber-wealthy executives.

It's not a zerosum game. By spending giving more money/equity to employees they could very well create more value in the corporation and for the C-suite.
 
I don't think anyone will argue that point.

What I think is worth wondering is if there's an incumbent social responsibility for the few that are that wealthy.

Amazon is known for working their employees extremely hard, in a cut throat environment, and of course that's part of the company's success. You don't $885bn in market cap by spending frivolously. However I'd be curious if there wasn't some additional trickle up value to AZMN (be it in reduced turnover, increased job ownership, productivity, etc...) in rewarding the rank and file with a bit more in the way of stock options rather than continuing to enrich already uber-wealthy executives.

It's not a zerosum game. By spending giving more money/equity to employees they could very well create more value in the corporation and for the C-suite.

This.
 
Remember when all you could get on Amazon were books and its main competition was Barnes & Noble.....what a simple time.
My son and I are in DC visiting. We went to Georgetown for dinner and walked by an Amazon bookstore. I just tonight had to explain that Amazon used to be just an online bookstore.
 
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