MacKenzie Scott Net Worth  - Pulptastic

What is MacKenzie Scott’s net worth?

MacKenzie Scott is a philanthropist, author, and activist with a net worth of $22 billion. She donated $6 billion to charity in 2020 alone and plans to give away most of her fortune during her lifetime.

She briefly became the richest woman in the world in July 2020, with Amazon’s share price breaking $3,300. However, she soon began donating billions of dollars to charity, making it difficult for her to maintain her position as the richest woman.

Scott was married to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos from 1993 to 2019, and they have four children together. Bezos has been a billionaire for over two decades and has been the world’s richest person since 2018.

Early Life and Education

MacKenzie Scott Tuttle was born in San Francisco, California in April 1970. She grew up across the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County. Her family also had a home in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood. Her father Jason Baker Tuttle ran a financial investment company.

For high school, MacKenzie attended the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut. During her junior year, her parents filed for bankruptcy after her father became the subject of a Securities and Exchange Commission probe. Her parents moved to Florida where her father unsuccessfully attempted to jump-start a new financial career. Her father was eventually barred from launching a new financial firm. The Florida judge pointed to the family’s previous lavish spending in the rejection.

After high school, MacKenzie attend Princeton University where she studied English. She graduated in 1992. While at Princeton she studied under famed author Toni Morrison in a creative writing class. Morrison would later describe MacKenzie as “one of the best students I’ve ever had.”

Meeting and Marriage of Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott

MacKenzie Scott, a Princeton graduate with dreams of becoming a novelist, moved to New York after graduation and began working as an administrative assistant at D.E. Shaw, a hedge fund, to support herself while pursuing her ambitions. It was there that she met Jeff Bezos, a Senior Vice President at the company and fellow Princeton alum, whose office shared a wall with hers.

Scott eventually worked her way up to becoming a research associate directly under Bezos, and the two began dating in 1992, just three months before becoming engaged. They were married the following year when Scott was 23 and Bezos was 29.

Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie’s Role in Founding Amazon

Jeff Bezos, fascinated by the potential of the “world wide web” in the mid-1990s, was encouraged by his wife MacKenzie to pursue his ambitions of creating an online e-commerce store. They brainstormed a list of products that could be sold online and settled on books. With MacKenzie serving as Amazon’s bookkeeper and secretary, the business was founded in their Seattle garage in July 1994, with Jeff using a $300,000 angel investment from his parents. MacKenzie also pursued her passion for writing, eventually releasing two fictional novels.

Jeff Bezos and Amazon’s IPO

On May 15, 1997, Amazon had its initial public offering and ended its first day of trading at $2 a share. Today, a single share of Amazon is worth more than $3,000. If one had invested $10,000 in Amazon at the IPO, they would have over $15 million today.

At the time of the IPO, Jeff Bezos owned 20% of Amazon. He regularly sold off chunks of equity to create liquidity, generating $70 billion in liquid cash before his divorce settlement. He owned 16% of Amazon before the settlement.

Jeff first became a billionaire in June 1998, and at the peak of the dotcom bubble, his net worth was $10 billion. After the bubble burst, his net worth retreated back to $2 billion. In June 2015, his net worth hit $50 billion for the first time. In January 2018, it topped $100 billion for the first time, and in July 2018, it topped $150 billion. His net worth has fluctuated between $150 and $200 billion in recent years.

On July 13, 2020, Amazon shares briefly broke $3,300 for the first time. MacKenzie Bezos became the richest woman in the world for the first time if her net worth was above $3,255.

Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos’ Divorce Settlement

In January 2019, Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos announced their divorce after 25 years of marriage, one year before Jeff founded Amazon. At the time of the announcement, Jeff’s net worth was $136 billion, and MacKenzie could have been entitled to half of all his assets, worth up to $70 billion in stock and other assets.

MacKenzie Scott receives 4% of Amazon shares in divorce settlement

MacKenzie Scott announced on April 4, 2019, via Twitter that she had finalized her divorce from Jeff Bezos and received just under 20 million shares in Amazon, which equates to roughly 4% of the company’s outstanding shares. The shares were worth $35.6 billion at the time of transfer. Jeff retained 75% of their former holdings, approximately 60 million shares, and all voting rights over MacKenzie’s shares. Despite the lack of voting power, MacKenzie received all the value.

Richest Women in the World in 2020

As of January 1, 2020, MacKenzie was the fifth richest woman in the world. Here’s a list of the top five:

1. Bernard Arnault’s family, $71.2 billion
2. Alice Walton, $62.3 billion
3. Francoise Bettencourt Meyers and family, $59.9 billion
4. Jacqueline Mars, $29.7 billion
5. MacKenzie Bezos, $36.6 billion

However, in 2020, Amazon’s stock price increased significantly due to the pandemic, which resulted in Jeff and MacKenzie’s net worths soaring. On July 10, 2020, MacKenzie’s net worth topped $64 billion, and on August 26, when AMZN topped $3,440, MacKenzie’s net worth hit $67 billion. Here’s a list of the top five richest women in the world on that same day:

1. Bernard Arnault’s family, $108.5 billion
2. Alice Walton, $62.5 billion
3. Francoise Bettencourt Meyers and family, $63.5 billion
4. Jacqueline Mars, $28.1 billion
5. MacKenzie Scott, $67.4 billion

After the market closed on August 26, 2020, MacKenzie Scott’s net worth jumped to $68 billion, making her the richest woman in the world.

MacKenzie Scott Announces Name Change and Billion-Dollar Donations

In July 2020, MacKenzie Scott announced on Medium that she was changing her name from MacKenzie Bezos to MacKenzie Scott. She also revealed that she had donated $1.7 billion to 116 charities. Just a few months later, in December 2020, she announced an additional donation of $4.2 billion to 384 organizations. Scott stated that her intention was to give the majority of her wealth back to society that helped generate it, to do it thoughtfully, to get started soon, and to keep at it until the safe is empty. By mid-2022, Scott had given away a total of $12 billion.

MacKenzie Scott, Formerly Bezos, Files for Divorce from Science Teacher Husband

MacKenzie Scott, philanthropist and ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has filed for divorce from her husband Dan Jewett, a high school science teacher at Lakeside School in Seattle, Washington. Jewett had signed on to Scott’s Giving Pledge commitment to donate the majority of their wealth to charity.

The couple married in March 2021 and Scott updated her Amazon author bio to include Jewett as her husband. At the time, Jeff Bezos congratulated the couple and referred to Jewett as a “great guy.”

The divorce filing was made in King County, Washington in September 2022.

MacKenzie Scott’s Real Estate Transactions

In 2007, MacKenzie Scott and her ex-husband Jeff Bezos purchased a home in Beverly Hills, California for $24 million. Ten years later, they bought the adjacent property for $13 million. However, as part of their divorce settlement, MacKenzie received ownership of the property.

In August 2022, MacKenzie donated the Beverly Hills property to the California Community Foundation, which estimated its value at $55 million at the time of the donation. This followed a $20 million donation to the same organization in 2021.

In 2019, MacKenzie purchased a 3.2-acre waterfront property in Medina, Washington for $37.5 million.

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