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Jeff Bezos Plans to Give Away the Bulk of His Fortune, New Grant of $100 Million to Dolly Parton The Amazon founder is worth a whopping $121.1 billion.

By Sam Silverman

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is giving back in a big way, and Dolly Parton is first on his list.

The second richest man in America, with a net worth of $121.1 billion per Forbes, said he plans to give away the bulk of his fortune in his lifetime while speaking with CNN. Alongside his partner Lauren Sanchez, the couple said they are "building the capacity to be able to give away this money" to help climate change and other various humanitarian efforts.

While he didn't divulge exactly how he plans to divvy up his riches, he awarded Dolly Parton $100 million after honoring the country artist and philanthropist with his Courage and Civility Award on Saturday.

The award is given to those who "lead with heart," Bezos said on Twitter.

"When you think of Dolly," Sánchez said while speaking with CNN, "Look, everyone smiles, right? She is just beaming with light. And all she wants to do is bring light into other people's worlds. And so we couldn't have thought of someone better than to give this award to Dolly, and we know she's going to do amazing things with it."

Parton is only the third recipient of the award, joining chef Jose Andrés who used his winnings to help make meals for Ukrainians, and CNN's Van Jones who has yet to disclose how he is distributing his award.

Dolly has yet to reveal exactly what she plans to do with her award.

Parton has several foundations including The Dollywood Foundation and The Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, which support children's education, according to Fox Business. Additionally, she also helped fund the COVID-19 vaccine Moderna.
Sam Silverman

Content Strategy Editor

Sam Silverman is a content strategy editor at Entrepreneur Media. She specializes in search engine optimization (SEO), and her work can be found in The US Sun, Nicki Swift, In Touch Weekly, Life & Style and Health. She writes for our news team with a focus on investigating scandals. Her coverage and expertise span from business news, entrepreneurship, technology, and true crime, to the latest in entertainment and TV news. Sam is a graduate of Lehigh University and currently resides in NYC. 

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