Over the weekend, Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez attended the Baby2Baby gala in LA. I was surprised that they went to such a high-profile charity event, especially given that Bezos isn’t known as the most charitable or generous guy. As I said in the previous post, he could fully fund Baby2Baby for fifty years and it would barely be a drop in the bucket for him. Apparently, that’s not what happened at all during the gala! He basically had to be peer-pressured into donating a measly half-million dollars. (“Measly” meaning… he’s a billionaire, for goodness sake.)
We’re starting to think people might really not like this guy. Jeff Bezos somehow managed become the villain of a fancy fundraising gala in Los Angeles over the weekend, even after donating $500,000 to the cause.
The Amazon and Blue Horizon boss and his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez went to the A-lister-studded Baby 2 Baby event at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood on Saturday night — and his presence, or at least the presence of his wallet, was very much felt. But we’re told he wasn’t warmly welcomed by the glittering crowd.
“Everyone was waiting for him to donate something,” an insider said of the world’s second-richest man, “but he didn’t. Then someone donated a million dollars. And then a little later, [Bezos] donated $500,000. There was an audible groan from the room.”
“If someone else can donate a million, Jeff Bezos can donate more than a million,” they said.
It may seem an ungracious reaction, considering he did drop half a million — until you consider that Bezos is estimated to make around $142,667 per minute. So he in theory made more in the five minutes he spent pretending to eat the chicken than he donated the whole night.
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not an “eat the rich” anti-capitalist. I think rich people have the right to exist and be excessive and dumb and all of that. That being said, I feel fine about haranguing billionaires to donate to charity, especially when they specifically go out of their way to attend a charity gala. With Baby2Baby specifically, it was one of the hottest tickets in LA last weekend and they had big A-list attendees. Bezos and Sanchez clearly went there to socialize, not because they believe in the work of the charity. The very least Bezos could do is donate a huge amount! I’m talking ten figures, especially given that he’s wasting that kind of money on his space cowboy bullsh-t.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
Cheap bastard. To be expected.
As we say in UK, tight-arse!
He donated less to B2B than Lauren spends on her facial upkeep I’m sure – it costs a lot of money to look that cheap!
I’m a bit of an “eat the rich” person because it’s very rare that rich folks are that rich without having engaged in un-ethical practices.
yeah same here. i’m okay with eating the rich– because chances are they are rich off the backs of other people’s exploited labor. not to mention tax loopholes, etc. no one. NO ONE should be as rich as bezos.
A friends son told me that he’d worked out the at Benzos had enough money to give everyone in the world one million, and still have money left over. He’s only 9 and I haven’t bothered to look up what Benzos is worth, so I don’t know whether it’s accurate, but when you think like that, it really puts that level of wealth into perspective. He could make a real difference to the world, but he chooses not to. With all the suffering and poverty in the world, right in our faces every day, I don’t know what kind of human being could choose to ignore that.
This is a fantastic representation of his wealth compared to others.
https://mkorostoff.github.io/1-pixel-wealth/
He has enough money to give everyone in the world around $20-$25 dollars, depending on how his options are faring on any given day.
@ Huma, correct. He has enough to give everyone in the world $25 each.
Bezos worth isn’t liquid. His personal wealth is considerable, but not what good says.
I get working hard and growing wealth that you want hidden from the government, but he went to a gala. He flaunts his wealth. He should be called out.
“It costs a lot of money to look that cheap!” – Oh do I love this. And meanwhile, look at what his lovely ex-wife Mackenzie is doing with her fortune! Millions and millions upon millions in philanthropy.
That comment was made by Dolly Parton years ago. She is a treasure!
Correction: Mackenzie has given away BILLiONS- 8.5 billion in the last year alone. and she’s still richer this year than she was last year!
Bezos is not a philanthropist. He is entirely interested in himself and his ego projects.
@ Mac, Bezos and philanthropy are an oxymoron! Bezos is only interested in himself, and himself only. He is an evil man that has become richer off of abusing his employees. I have no respect for him whatsoever. Him and his Jessica Rabbit blow up doll!!
1000%
How about 500 million? That would be quite a generous and appropriate donation. It also wouldn’t make a dent in his wallet. Ole cheapskate.
I know right? That’s the equivalent of going to Applebee’s for a meal and leaving a buck tops. I would’ve side eyed my mate over it. I was a waitress so I tip over the top.
Rich people are so obsessed with money, that’s why they count the pennies. It’s not like his wonky eyes will take it with him when he exits left stage. And you know his equally wonky eyed g.f. was hissing that he should’ve left less. She’s the same way.
Didn’t his ex wife donate a huge amount post divorce? If I recall correctly….
But, I also don’t believe in billionaires. No one person should ever have that much control and money is power. Too many of them are mentally deranged. They’ve lost the plot
Me too, I was a server and bartender in college and then in hospitality management for another decade-plus. I always, always overtip and I have no patience for people who can afford not to be cheap like this guy, and who are anyway.
$500K is a lot of money, objectively, but if you put it in the context of the article and the amount he earns every MINUTE, it’s cheap. He could have donated his entire days’ earnings ($205,440,480 for anyone interested…) and not blinked his wonk-eye (bless you for that, it made me snort!)
I wish Mackenzie would make a $5 million donation to them, just for the joy of seeing him shown up, but I think she’s much nicer than me and would probably insist on any donation being anonymous.
For him 500k is such a laughable amount – like why even show up? So your girlfriend can get her photo taken? If you don’t believe in the organization and what its trying to do, then just stay home.
With a invite list like that, it is all about networking.
He and Lauren called spectacularly on that front.
*sits back and drink tea*
I’m glad they did it.
When I attend a charity event, I go with the intention to bid on the gift basket donated by Bath and Body Works. And I am no where near a thousandaire, let alone a billionaire.
He really thinks his presence is enough, but he sure did learn.
And I want a follow up as to of he committed to donating that money. Baby2Baby should update it.
He’s the only billionaire I want to go full proletariat revolution on.
don’t forget Elon. why are they all so awful?!
Silver lining, the charity is now getting more attention due to his antics, and maybe a lot of the rich set that *didn’t* attend the event will give them big donations just to make Bezos look worse.
He has gone full Hollywood and always wants to be around the A-List people. He does not think much of the world however and it shows in his lack of charity especially compared to his former wife and fellow billionaires like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet
Yeah, they should have auctioned off a date with Leo.
I think he counts his ex wife’s generous donations to charities as his own.
In Bezos’ defence he lost the civilian space race to Branson AND fuel for his penis shaped rocket isn’t cheap.
Plus, he’s been building a lair/ tax haven inside a volcano in Antarctica. It’s a really expensive renovation! His robot workers keep needing repairs. On top of that, the human workers are convinced they need food, toilet breaks, showers & sleep… it’s really slowing down the project! He’s almost gone over budget on water, sandwiches, towels, soap and unnecessary surveillance technology.
At the end of the day, the babies will be better off if they spend less time relying on adults for support. They should amass wealth, underpay workers & stop those workers from unionising like Bezos! Then the babies can be financially independent like him instead of relying on other people to take care of them.
I’m sure he spent more than that busting union efforts.
ITA. His union busting manages to be predictable & depressing all at the same time.
Lauren Sanchez should dump that cheapskate and date someone who’s not a villain.
His was the largest donation of the night. And I’m sure he’s writing 6 figure checks at every event he attends (or they wouldn’t be invited). I think it’s fine. Yes it could be more but given their more active social life I’m sure he’s cutting checks to charities left and right.
@Eliza But it wasn’t, it’s quoted in the article that someone donated a million dollars. Let’s not give him more credit than is due.
As I said in a previous comment, he could cut a $200,000,000 check EVERY DAY and still be making money. If they’re going to 5 of these events a week, he could donate $5,000,000 a pop and never even miss it. That amount to him is the equivalent of me giving my kid $3 for the ice cream truck.
@ Eliza, I would love to hear about his many donations as I hear crickets when it comes to his philanthropic donations. Bezos only cares about Bezos. He will keep his money to himself while he exploits workers in his centers around the world. Bezos is not a generous man. Not in the least.
That’s pretty embarrassing for him. He’s souless, but could have gotten some great PR by making a big donation, topping everyone else. He could have even matched the evening’s haul.
I don’t have a problem with someone achieving big success, and living well, so long as they do it ethically, pay their employees well, and give back. How wonderful would it be to be able to give generously to charities like this, and make a positive difference in people’s lives?
I love what his ex-wife is doing – organized a great research team that is doing targeted, big impact donations to typically underfunded, worthy programs. Meanwhile he’s flitting around Hollywood, having to be shamed into donating a fraction of what he made while just sitting there.
For how many stars attended I was actually surprised by how little they raised overall. $8.5 million.
He sucks but $500,000 is still a lot of money (objectively, not comparatively!)
Eat the rich. I’m sure they’re going to be wagyu beef delicious …. Except I’m a vegetarian. But I’d make an exception.
What I don’t understand is, Americans want a capitalist society, but then want to demand how rich people spend their money. Why not go full socialist/communist and say his money is our money, and this is how it should be spent.
I am shocked at the entitlement of people to other peoples’ money and anger with how it is spent.
The anger comes from people like Bezos not paying the taxes they should, getting huge tax breaks to set up locations of their already very profitable businesses, exploiting labor forces, etc.
Understand the tax avoidance, but that’s the fiscal system. It allows that loophole.
“His” money was earned on the backs of the workers he underpays and the crushing productivity goals he demands that force them to use water bottles in lieu of bathroom breaks and to keep working when they are injured or sick for fear of losing their job. He could fix those things with a phone call, but he doesn’t. Instead, he spends the money that he has hoarded from exploiting his employees on space-penises and megayachts and even bigger houses. And, it appears, lots of upkeep on his companion. I think we’ve earned the right to be outraged at how he spends “his” money.
@ AMA1977, especially considering the amount of tax breaks that he gets in every cities/town/state that are begging for him to build a production line. Bezos over inflates how profitable it will be for the area and the number of jobs there will be once the facilities are completed.
Bezos is exploiting the cities, the workers and the potential taxes that would benefit the areas that he intends to invest in. He is not a man of ethical business practices. He is a man intent on paying the least amount while looking for the greatest tax and money opportunities that high employment rate states or cities are experiencing. They think that Bezos will “save” their employees and their community. But in the end, the only winner is Bezos.
Lauren, is that you? it’s not that simple.
Americans HAVE a capitalist society whether we want it or not.
Americans want universal health care, but the oligarchs who run congress fight as hard as they can to undermine it.
paying a fair share of taxes to maintain the roads their trucks drive on (and being fair to workers) isn’t socialist. it’s simply fair and humane.
No, I am not Ms. Sanchez.
I believe now that there is a global minimum corporation tax, companies will not be incentivized to be domiciled abroad and will pay more taxes than previously. On the individual tax avoidance, there is not much you can do because rich people pay themselves $1 and avoid paying income tax and prefer to pay the lower capital gains tax. Is it fair? No. But that is the way it is structured.
Again, this is not on the individuals, it’s on congress. but this “oligarchy” is elected and representing their constituents. and possibly the influence of lobbyists too, but I get the impression they have a vested interest in not changing fiscal policy on income tax.
Let’s look at the members of Congress , especially those who have made life long careers … both R and D …. Then we can talk about the tax structures that keep these assholes not paying their fair share .
I would be fine if they cheaped out on charities if they paid a fair share of taxes .
@same i agree with you. i also think they don’t want to change the tax code because it benefits all of them and are afraid of coming across as anti business.
I used to live in Seattle and he never attended or donated to any Seattle-area NPOs.
He’s a dbag, and his skanky girlfriend is gross.
Pocket change for him. Sorry, but I’m not gonna stand up and clap for a billionaire donating what, to him, is like me pulling $7 out of my purse to put in the offering basket when I visit my parents and accompany them to church. I do it out of politeness and respect for my parents, and I’m not really out anything – it’s not a grand gesture and this isn’t either.