Report: Former Amazon Exec paid $800k for Bezos Preschool Network.

• Jeff Bezos’s nonprofit preschool paid leaders significantly higher than average salaries in 2021.  
• Both the president of Bezos Academy and the chief of operations at Bezos Academy are long-time Amazon employees. 
• Bezos Academy had only one location with 13 students for the majority of the past year. 

Jeff Bezos hired ex-Amazon workers to manage his Montessori-inspired tuition free preschool system. He’s reportedly paying them a small fortune. 

A tax form for the year analyzed byBloomberg, Michael George received $800,452 plus $28,000 benefits to manage Bezos Academy in 2021. The academy was a single school with only 13 students.

According to Bezos Academy’s website, George worked for Amazon for more than 20 years and managed consumer projects such as Amazon Echo and Alexa. 

Bloomberg has collected data from Total Compensation Solution that shows George’s compensation is significantly more than that of a median director for a nonprofit organization, which was $294,000 by 2021. 

According to Bloomberg, George’s salary falls “within an acceptable range of competitive market price prices”, Bezos Academy stated. 

Bloomberg also found that a pre-K worker who was an Amazon worker was also being paid a substantial sum. Miguel Roque was the chief of operations for Bezos Academy and was paid $463.144 in 2021. Roque was with Amazon for 9 years. 

Bezos Academy focuses on children from underserved communities. It is free and offers “a nurturing the potential in every child in order to become creative leaders, original thinkers, and lifelong learners.” According to its website,

Katie Ford, a spokesperson for Bezos Academy, told Bloomberg that the nonprofit plans to open 15 additional schools by 2023. 

Since stepping down as Amazon CEO, Bezos has been focusing on charity. Bezos signed the Giving Pledge last month, which is “a promise made by the wealthiest families and individuals in the world to donate the majority of their wealth for charitable causes.” accordingVisit the website of the pledge.