An aerial image taken on August 10, 2023 shows destroyed homes and buildings on the waterfront burned to the ground in Lahaina in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui, Hawaii. Bezos, Oprah Winfrey, Jimmy Buffett and Nvidia cofounder Jensen Huang are among the billionaires with land or homes on Hawaii’s second-largest island.
Lauren Sánchez, Jeff Bezos’ fiancee and vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund, said in posts on Instagram and Threads Friday afternoon that the couple is establishing a $100 million Maui Fund to “help Maui get back on its feet now and over the coming years.” She made the announcement as wildfires continue to burn in Maui on Friday in what is one of the largest natural disasters in the state’s history.
Other billionaires who own homes or land on Maui, including Peter Thiel, singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and software tycoon David Duffield, have remained quiet. A spokesperson for Duffield’s foundation, which focuses its efforts on animal causes, wrote tothat it is “working with the Maui Humane Society to ease the suffering of Maui’s companion animals” but did not specify a donation amount or action.