If centibillionaire Jeff Bezos knows how to make money, his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, certainly knows how to give it away. The megadonor sold 65 million Amazon shares worth over $10 billion in 2023, and a recent filing reveals that Scott has further reduced her Amazon stake. As per a Friday filing, the billionaire philanthropist offloaded another 11% of her Amazon shares, valued at over $8 billion as of September 30. Since her divorce from Bezos in January 2019, which ended their 25-year marriage, Scott has sold or gifted an astonishing 255 million Amazon shares, collectively worth about $37 billion.
According to Forbes, as part of the divorce settlement, the most expensive in history, Scott received 400 million Amazon shares, representing 25% of Bezos’s holdings, worth $35.6 billion at the time. This made her the third-richest woman in the world. Interestingly, she has already disposed of two-thirds of these shares in under six years, signaling her disinterest in hoarding wealth.
With at least $17.3 billion donated to 2,300 nonprofit groups so far, Scott is a titan of philanthropy, ranked among the five most generous living donors in the U.S., according to Forbes. Her recent donations include $30 million to Housing Trust Silicon Valley on the organization’s 25th anniversary, paving the way for affordable housing in the Bay Area. Just a week later, she gifted $7 million to Boston-based Jewish Vocational Service to support individuals and families striving for economic mobility.
All this generosity is inevitably shrinking her net worth, which dropped to $30 billion from $38 billion last week and is significantly lower than her $59 billion fortune in 2021. n spite of this, she is still one of the richest people on the planet and is ranked at No. 43 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. A reserved figure, Scott rarely publicizes her philanthropic efforts except through occasional essays on her Yield Giving platform, which catalogs her substantial contributions.
What is Yield Giving-
MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving platform offers a glimpse into her transformative philanthropy. To date, she has donated an extraordinary $17.3 billion to over 2,300 nonprofit organizations, giving them unrestricted grants with no strings attached. These funds span various sectors, including education, healthcare, and economic development. Some of her most notable contributions include a $436 million donation to Habitat for Humanity International and its 84 U.S. affiliates in March 2022, and $275 million to Planned Parenthood’s national office and 21 regional affiliates around the same time. That same year, she gifted $122.6 million to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, cementing her reputation as a trailblazer in modern philanthropy.
Note – As of writing this article, Jeff Bezos has a net worth of $228 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
