Jeff Bezos Gets Slammed for Meager 690,000 Donation to Australian Wildfire Crisis

In a heartfelt Instagram post last week, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced that the company will donate $690,000 to the Australian wildfire recovery effort. That's roughly how much money he makes in five minutes.

AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais via BI

Australia's wildfires have devastated the country since they began in late July, killing at least 28 people and burning more than 2,000 homes. In a blog post, Amazon said it will channel the money to relief agencies geared towards helping victims and restoring wildlife.

The internet was quick to criticize the size of Amazon's donation, noting that it represented just a tiny fraction of Amazon's $936 billion market cap. By contrast, Facebook said it will donate $1.25 million, and celebrities including Kylie Jenner and Metallica both pledged larger donations than Amazon. Sex workers said they raised nearly double what Amazon pledged for the Australia wildfires by selling nude photos online.

Jeff Bezos alone makes roughly $78.5 billion per year, which breaks down to more than $215 million per day, or $149,353 per minute.

An Amazon spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

People reacted to Amazon's donation with ridicule over the weekend.

Lol. Metallica gave $750,000. https://t.co/l45HkUKhIK

— Thick Cave & the Bad Tweets™ (@TimDuffy) January 12, 2020

Metallica announced last week that it would give $750,000 to fire-fighting efforts in Australia.

People pointed out that a model singlehandedly raised roughly $1 million by selling nude photos for charity last week.

choose your fighter pic.twitter.com/19n1euu4r8

— jordan (@JordanUhl) January 12, 2020

The 20-year-old model is still raising money for fire relief.

Kylie Jenner, a billionaire with a significantly smaller net worth than Bezos, said she would donate $1 million.

Kylie Jenner is donating a million. She's worth several billion less than Bezos. https://t.co/sdl4MyoQ4H

— Oliver Willis (@owillis) January 12, 2020

Jenner's donation came after she faced minor backlash for an Instagram post about the fires that was criticized as tasteless.

By the end of the week, many were calling on Amazon to pledge a heftier sum.

If Amazon did “Australian wildfires day” and donated all revenue from a single day of sales, they would raise almost 1,000x Bezos’s donation https://t.co/Mzo1ypiUL9

— dan solomon (@dansolomon) January 12, 2020

Jeff Bezos alone makes roughly $78.5 billion per year, which breaks down to more than $215 million per day, or $149,353 per minute.

An Amazon spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.