Jeff Bezos has made his first big political donation.
Amazon’s founder and chief executive has donated $10 million to With Honor, a nonpartisan Super PAC aiming to elect military veterans from both the right and the left to Congress, according to the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. Amazon did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
With Honor is backing 19 Democrats and 14 Republicans running for the House later this year. Rye Barcott, founder of With Honor Fund, told the WSJ the organization does “no screening for ideology,” but seeks a “common bond of service and commitment to the country.”
As Amazon has enjoyed a banner year in 2018, becoming the second company to hit a $1 trillion valuation after Apple, on Tuesday, Bezos’ net worth has continued to swell. The 54-year-old is now worth upwards of $160 billion — making him the richest person on earth.
The $10 million donated to With Honor marks Bezos’ biggest public donation to date. He donated $2.5 million to a group working to keep same-sex marriage legal in Amazon’s home state of Washington in 2012.
Bezos has said he’s taking a different, more immediate approach to charity, in comparison to his “long-term” investments in the Washington Post and Blue Origin, his space exploration company.
“I like long-term — it’s a huge lever: Blue Origin, Amazon, Washington Post — all of these are contributing to society and civilization in their own ways,” Bezos tweeted last year. “But I’m thinking I want much of my philanthropic activity to be helping people in the here and now — short term — at the intersection of urgent need and lasting impact.”