MacKenzie Scott’s Philanthropy Leaves Her Ex-Husband Jeff Bezos Far Behind

The third most generous person in the world used to be married to the third wealthiest person.

BY AVA LEVINSON, NEWS WRITER

Jeff Bezos and Mackenzie Scott. Illustration: Inc; Photo: Getty Images

Mackenzie Scott has built a reputation that increasingly stands independent from her former marriage to Jeff Bezos. While the Amazon CEO is the third wealthiest person in the world, Scott has become the third most generous, according to Forbes. 

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Scott has given away 46 percent of her fortune, summing $26 billion in total. She donated $7.2 billion of that last year alone.

Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sánchez, have donated around $4.7 billion in their lives, putting them at the number 10 spot on Forbes’ philanthropy list. It’s around two percent of their entire net worth, and it’s roughly one fifth of Scott’s donations since she separated from Bezos in 2019. 

At the time of the divorce, Scott left with around four percent of Amazon’s stock, which translated to an amount between $36 billion and $38 billion. As the stock has risen, so has her wealth. Even with all of her giving, Scott still boasts a $31 billion net worth. 

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Bezos, on the other hand, owns nine percent of the company; he’s worth an estimated $230 billion. 

Scott’s Charitable Inspiration

Scott has shared that her generous giving is contextualized by the people who helped her get to where she is today.

She’s spoken several times about how she was mentored by famed writer Toni Morrison, who was Scott’s creative writing professor at Princeton University.

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