Many people only know MacKenzie Scott as the former wife of Amazon owner Jeff Bezos. That’s unfortunate, though, because she’s a fascinating person who played an essential role in making Amazon successful while also raising a family, writing two novels, and devoting herself to philanthropic causes.
Currently, media attention focuses on Scott’s philanthropy. She has pledged to give away the majority of her massive wealth, and she’s on a mission to reach that goal.
Why Is MacKenzie Scott Famous?
MacKenzie Scott is famous for founding Amazon with her husband, Jeff Bezos. She also played critical roles in building the small e-commerce service into one of the world’s most successful businesses.
More recently, she has attracted attention for her philanthropic endeavors. She committed to the Giving Pledge in 2019. The Giving Pledge is a charitable campaign started by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.
It encourages wealthy people to donate a majority of their wealth to philanthropy. For example, someone who earned $50 million one year may choose to donate a substantial portion of their income. The pledge, however, isn’t binding.
After her divorce from Bezos, Scott also formed Yield Giving, which researches and vets potential recipients. It also includes a team of advisors and consultants who help determine how much funding organizations should receive.
What Did MacKenzie Scott Do Before Meeting Jeff Bezos?
Before meeting Jeff Bezos, MacKenzie Scott attended Princeton University, where she studied English.
She chose Princeton because she wanted to work under the guidance of Nobel laureate Toni Morrison. Affording the school meant she had to work 30 hours a week on top of her course load.
During Scott’s senior year, Morrison became her senior thesis advisor. Morrison has called Scott one of the best students she ever worked with.
After graduation, Scott worked for Morrison as a research assistant. Scott also got an administrative position at D. E. Shaw, a hedge fund company. She met her future husband, Jeff Bezos, at Shaw.
What Was MacKenzie Scott’s First Job?
Although MacKenzie Scott worked a number of jobs to make ends meet during college, her first notable job after graduating from Princeton was at D. E. Shaw & Co. Scott didn’t work as a hedge fund manager, though. Instead, she held an administrative position.
Scott worked at D. E. Shaw from 1992 to 1994, when she and Bezos left the company to found Amazon. She currently owns a 4% stake in Amazon.
MacKenzie Scott and Jeff Bezos
MacKenzie Scott and Jeff Bezos met while they were working at D. E. Shaw & Co. The two became close and married about a year after meeting. Shortly after, they left Shaw to found Amazon.
Scott and Bezos were married for 25 years. During that time, they had four children and turned Amazon into one of the world’s most influential corporations.
Bezos also founded and acquired several other businesses, including Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and Bezos Academy.
The couple divorced in 2019. Scott married a public school teacher, Dan Jewett, in 2021. They divorced two years later. Bezos is in a relationship with Lauren Sanchez, a media personality he had been seeing before his divorce.
MacKenzie comes from a relatively modest background. So, how did she manage to become one of the world’s wealthiest women?
How Did MacKenzie Scott Make Her Money?
MacKenzie Scott made her money as the first employee at Amazon in which she now owns a 4% stake worth $35 billion.
Clear she believed in her Jeff Bezos vision early on. While working at Shaw, Bezos thought he could use the internet to reach consumers. His initial plan involved selling books online, often at significantly discounted prices. He pitched the idea to Scott, who agreed that it represented an enormous opportunity.
While Bezos often gets most of the credit for building Amazon into a success, Scott did a lot of work during the company’s early days. She helped develop the company’s business plan and negotiated a freight contract that lowered Amazon’s shipping costs.
She did, however, decide to take a less prominent role in 1996. Instead of working for the company, she wanted to focus on raising her children and starting a literary career.
When Scott and Bezos divorced, she kept a 4% stake in Amazon and received about $35 billion. Despite giving away over $16.5 billion, she currently has a net worth between $35 billion and $40 billion.
How Much Money Has MacKenzie Scott Given Away?
MacKenzie Scott has donated over $16.5 billion since her divorce from Bezos in 2019. She gives away most of the money through her philanthropic non-profit group, Yield Giving. The organization lists all recipients on its website.
Non-profits that received the largest donations in 2023 included:
- Mercy Housing, a non-profit focused on affordable housing
- Upstream USA, a reproductive care organization
- Year Up, a skills training group for young people
Each non-profit got $25 million from Yield Giving. Other philanthropy from Scott has targeted:
- HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities)
- Racial and LGBTQ+ equality
- Economic inequality
- Climate change
In 2023, she announced an open call encouraging people to recommend non-profits they feel should receive support from Giving Pledge.
Scott says her group plans to select 250 community-focused organizations that will receive $1 million each.
Does MacKenzie Scott Give Money to Individuals?
Yield Giving doesn’t list any individuals who have received money directly from MacKenzie Scott.
Scott, however, doesn’t oversee how organizations use the money they receive. Some of the groups have chosen to create endowments or rainy day funds.
Others have chosen to give money directly to people in need. This approach can help people facing crises avoid major financial hardships that could lead to homelessness and other problems.
So, while MacKenzie Scott doesn’t give money directly to individuals, she does donate money to organizations that distribute cash to individuals in their communities.
What Does MacKenzie Scott Do Now?
MacKenzie Scott spends most of her time as a writer and philanthropist. She has published two novels, The Testing of Luther Albright (2005) and Traps (2013). Scott saws it took her a decade to finish her first novel because she was so busy working with Amazon. She won an American Book Award for The Testing of Luther Albright.
Recently, Scott has gotten more attention for her role as a philanthropist. She uses her position and wealth to promote community-oriented non-profit groups. Scott identifies recipients and distributes money through Yield Giving.
Importantly, Scott vocally promotes the organizations she helps fund. She intentionally focuses on the groups instead of her personal involvement. Ideally, this approach helps highlight the achievements of non-profits and encourages other donors to fund their work.
Yield Giving takes a two-pronged approach to finding and funding recipients. It uses an open-call system that lets anyone call attention to an organization they believe deserves funding.
Yield Giving also conducts what it calls “quiet research.” It will look into organizations to determine how they would benefit from financial gifts. Those that stand out often receive funding without prior notice. A non-profit group struggling to make ends meet could suddenly find that it has $1 million from Yield Giving.
Scott and Yield Giving have donated at least $84.5 million to Girl Scouts of the USA and its local councils, $436 million to Habitat for Humanity, and $275 million to Planned Parenthood.
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