MacKenzie Scott Sold a Quarter of Her Amazon Stake — Worth More Than $10 Billion — in 2023

Since finalizing her divorce from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in 2019, Scott has donated more than $16.5 billion to charity

<p>Evan Agostini/Invision/AP</p> MacKenzie Scott

Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

MacKenzie Scott

MacKenzie Scott trimmed down her Amazon stake last year.

In 2023, the 53-year-old philanthropist, novelist and ex-wife of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos sold 65.3 million Amazon.com Inc. shares, according to a regulatory filing obtained by Bloomberg.

The unloaded shares amount to about a quarter of her stake in the tech giant and, as of Friday, were worth $10.4 billion, according to the outlet.

Following her 2019 divorce from Bezos, 60, after 25 years of marriage, Scott ended up with about a 4% stake in Amazon worth $38.3 billion — placing her 22nd on the outlet’s ranking of the world’s 500 richest people, Bloomberg reported at the time.

The hefty settlement also made her the wealthiest woman in the world at the time.

Related: Billionaire Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott Donates $55 Million Beverly Hills Estate to Charity

Scott has since trimmed her Amazon share, disposing of about half over the past five years, but the online retailer still makes up most of her $37.6 billion net worth, per Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.

She also joined the Giving Pledge — a list of billionaires who've pledged to donate half of their fortune — in 2019 and has since donated more than $16.5 billion to a wide range of charities.

The philanthropist elaborated on her decision to take the pledge in a letter posted to the initiative's website, writing, "I have no doubt that tremendous value comes when people act quickly on the impulse to give. No drive has more positive ripple effects than the desire to be of service.”

"My approach to philanthropy will continue to be thoughtful. It will take time and effort and care. But I won't wait," she added. “And I will keep at it until the safe is empty.”

Michael Kovac/Getty MacKenzie Scott.
Michael Kovac/Getty MacKenzie Scott.

Related: Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos Through the Years: From an Office Romance to $137 Billion Split

In July 2020, about a year after taking the pledge, Scott shared in a Medium blog post that she had given nearly $1.7 billion to various charities, including the Asian Americans Advancing Justice — AAJC, Black Girls CODE, Educate Girls, LatinoJustice and Transgender Law Center.

Later that year, she revealed in another blog post that she and a "team of advisors" distributed more than $4 billion to organizations aiding communities in the U.S. affected by the COVID-19 pandemic — some that fulfill “basic needs” and others that aim to address “long-term systemic inequities that have been deepened by the crisis.”

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The following summer, she and then-husband Dan Jewett donated $2.7 billion to “286 high-impact organizations in categories and communities that have been historically underfunded and overlooked," she explained in a blog post at the time.

The organizations included universities, arts and culture organizations, refugee settlement groups, police reform programs, and LGBTQ+ organizations that prioritize leaders of color and groups that focus on empowering women and girls, she shared.

More recently, in February and March 2022, Scott donated $133.5 million to Communities in School, which helps fund school services for at-risk students, and $436 million to Habitat for Humanity.

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