MacKenize Scott, a billionaire philanthropist and Jeff Bezos’s ex-wife, reduced her stake in Amazon by 42 percent over the last year, according to a new report.
Scott reduced her stake in Bezos’s company by 58 million shares — worth an estimated $12.6 billion — leaving her with 81.1 million shares, Bloomberg reports, citing regulatory paperwork filed September 30. It’s not clear whether her share count dropped through gifts or sales, according to Bloomberg.
Despite this reduction, Scott still has an estimated net worth of $32.4 billion as of Wednesday, according to Forbes, making her the 66th richest person in the world.
The 55-year-old philanthropist married Bezos in 1993, a year before he founded Amazon. She met him while working as an administrative assistant at D.E. Shaw, a New York hedge fund where Bezos was a senior vice president, The New York Times reports.
Scott was heavily involved in Amazon at the beginning, according to the Times. She handled the accounting, brainstormed company names and helped ship early orders through UPS.
The pair had four children together before they divorced in 2019, and Scott ended up with a 4 percent stake in Amazon. Thanks to Amazon shares surging, Scott remains wealthier than when she initially split with Bezos, Bloomberg reports.
Scott has since pledged to give away most of her fortune, according to Bloomberg, and shortly after splitting with Bezos, she founded the charity Yield Giving.
Through Yield Giving, Scott has given away a total of $19.25 billion to more than 2,450 non-profits, with the foundation donating more than $2 billion to a total of 199 non-profits in the last year alone. These non-profits include organizations that work to improve access to affordable housing, stable jobs and healthcare.
Yield Giving uses “quiet research” to identify the non-profits “working to advance the opportunities of people in underserved communities,” according to its website. The foundation also put out an open call for organizations last year.
The grants have “no strings attached and few reporting requirements,” according to Bloomberg, which is in in contrast to many of her billionaire peers who opt for high-profile donations.
Yield Giving could not be reached for comment. Its website states the organization “chooses not to participate in events or media stories.”
Bezos, who is estimated to be the world’s fourth-richest man with a net worth of $228.7 billion, remarried earlier this year to Lauren Sanchez. In June, the pair hosted an extravagant and star-studded wedding in Venice, which likely cost them around $50 million.
Bezos has also started his own charities, including the Bezos Earth Fund, described on its website as “the largest philanthropic commitment ever to fight climate change and protect nature.” In 2020, he pledged to donate $10 billion through the Bezos Earth Fund by 2030. In 2022, he told CNN he plans to give away the majority of his fortune to charity.
