Wealth Culture
Amazon’s Bezos Disrupts Another Frontier, With Just One Tweet
- His message seeking philanthropic ideas draws 42,000 replies
- It’s turning heads in an area chided for ‘stodgy foundations’
Amazon's Bezos Makes Push Into Philanthropy With Tweet
Amazon.com Inc.’s Jeff Bezos has remained largely invisible in the world of philanthropy. That changed last week in a single tweet -- followed by 42,000 more.
The tycoon’s request to Twitter -- asking how he can best use his wealth to help people “right now” -- has set off a frenzy of responses from every corner of the world. They include pleas to support health care, education and loan forgiveness, offbeat appeals to back a leather fetish museum in Chicago, plus snarky demands to reboot favorite TV shows. Even Madonna chimed in, inviting the world’s second-richest man to visit Detroit to engage with charities there.