MacKenzie Scott sold $10.4 billion in Amazon shares in 2023
Head of Amazon Jeff Bezos and his then-wife MacKenzie Bezos arrive for the 2018 Axel Springer award ceremony. (Photo by Jörg Carstensen/picture alliance via Getty Images)
MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, offloaded about one-quarter of her stake in the company last year, which was worth more than $10 billion, according to a report by Bloomberg.
Scott, 53, a philanthropist who helped Bezos build the company, sold 65.3 million shares in the e-commerce giant in 2023, according to a regulatory filing cited by Bloomberg.
The share sale forms about 25% of Scott’s stake in the company and would be worth $10.4 billion at Amazon's Friday closing price.
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Scott married Bezos in 1993, and she was one of Amazon’s first employees. She worked on accounts, business plans and shipping orders.
They divorced in 2019, with Scott ending up with roughly 4% of the tech giant, a stake that was then worth around $37 billion and helped her become one of the world’s wealthiest women.
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The latest offload means that Scott has sold about half of her shares in Amazon, and her current holdings still make up the bulk of her $37.6 billion net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which ranks her as the 35th richest person in the world.
She would be a lot higher up the rich list if it were not for her charitable donations.
In December, Scott announced on the Giving Pledge website that she had donated $2.1 billion to 360 organizations in 2023, bringing her donations to more than $16 billion since 2019. The Giving Pledge is a non-binding promise that billionaires make to donate the majority of their wealth.
"In addition to whatever assets life has nurtured in me, I have a disproportionate amount of money to share," Scott wrote on the website in 2019.
"My approach to philanthropy will continue to be thoughtful. It will take time and effort and care. But I won’t wait. And I will keep at it until the safe is empty."
Bezos, meanwhile, was ranked as the second-richest person in the world as of January 26th, with a total net worth of $184 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.