MacKenzie Scott

About MacKenzie Scott

MacKenzie Scott is a philanthropist, author and the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, to whom she was married for 25 years. As part of their 2019 divorce, she received a 4% stake in the online retailer.

In May 2019, shortly after she announced the terms of the divorce on Twitter, she signed the Giving Pledge, promising to give away at least half of her wealth over the course of her lifetime.

In a website called Yield Giving, Scott shares details of the $17.3 billion (53% of her Amazon shares) she has given to more than 2,300 nonprofits.

Scott employs a "no strings attached" style of giving, wherein the nonprofits to which she donates have full control over how to best deploy the new funds.

Scott, who has published two novels, was a student of author Toni Morrison at Princeton and worked as a research assistant for her.