Mackenzie Scott is different from other billionaires because she is actively giving away her fortune as quickly as possible. It turns out to be a lot harder than you might think.
MacKenzie Scott
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | MacKenzie Scott (née MacKenzie Tuttle) |
| Date of Birth | April 7, 1970 |
| Age (2025) | 55 Years |
| Birthplace | San Francisco, California, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | BA in English (Creative Writing), Princeton University |
| Profession | Author, Philanthropist |
| Known For | Ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, Major Philanthropist |
| Role at Amazon | Early employee, accountant, co-founder support |
| Amazon Ownership | ~4% after 2019 divorce (reduced due to donations) |
| Marital Status | Divorced |
| Ex-Spouse | Jeff Bezos (1993–2019) |
| Former Spouse | Dan Jewett (2021–2023) |
| Children | 4 |
| Philanthropy Style | Unrestricted, trust-based giving |
| Total Donations (since 2019) | $16+ Billion |
| Focus Areas | Racial equity, education, public health, poverty |
| Public Presence | Extremely private, rare interviews |
| Wealth Philosophy | Actively reducing net worth |
How much is MacKenzie Scott Net Worth?
Today, Mackenzie Scott’s net worth is somewhere between $30 to $35 billion. She is one of the billionaires whose fortune is getting smaller on purpose. Scott is doing everything she can to make her net worth shrink.
Her money came from her divorce from Jeff Bezos in 2019, after they’d been married for 25 years. When they split up, she got about 4% of Amazon’s stock, which is about 19.7 million shares, worth about $36 billion at that time. But instead of taking that big amount, she immediately started giving it away.
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The Amazon Story
Back in 1994, Scott and Bezos started Amazon in their Seattle garage. At the beginning, it was just an online bookstore. She was working as the company’s accountant and helping build the business from the ground up.
After thirty years, Amazon is worth over $1.5 trillion and has become one of the biggest companies on Earth. She has only kept a small percentage of the company; that small slice of a massive pie is still enormous.
The thing is that most of her money is still tied up in Amazon stock. Her net worth fluctuates according to the ups and downs of Amazon’s stock price. It is more like trying to empty a bathtub while someone keeps turning on the faucet.
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A different kind of giving
Since 2019, Scott has given away more than $16 billion to over 1,600 organizations. But it’s not just about how much she’s giving, it’s how she’s doing it. Scott has basically thrown out the rulebook on how rich people are supposed to donate money.
Traditional philanthropy usually works like this: A billionaire starts a foundation with their name on it. Organizations have to apply for grants. There is tons of paperwork. The donor gets to put their name on buildings. They want updates and reports, and control over how their money gets used. There are galas and photo opportunities and lots of fanfare.
Scott is not interested in that approach. She and her team find organizations doing good work, and then she just gives the money. Organizations can spend the money however they think is best.
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Who gets the money?
Scott has been particularly focused on giving to organizations that traditional philanthropy often fails to notice. She has given huge amounts of money to groups led by people of color, women, and LGBTQ+ individuals. She’s supported organizations working on racial justice, public health, education, and helping people in poverty.
Most of the groups she has supported are tiny organizations that struggle to pay basic bills. Receiving a gift from Scott helps them to hire more staff, expand their programs, and plan for the future.
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The problem of being too rich
The weird thing about having billions of dollars is that it is actually hard to give it away faster than it grows. Scott’s fortune has not dropped too much, even though she has donated over $16 billion. Because her Amazon shares are growing in value each day.
It is like playing video games where you intentionally try to lose points, but the game keeps giving you more. This is known as the “billionaires’ dilemma”. When you have a huge wealth, it will keep multiplying no matter what you do.
Scott once wrote about how frustrating this is. She has been pretty honest about the fact that no one needs billions of dollars, and that the system that allows people to accumulate this much wealth probably isn’t fair to begin with. She has also said that wealthy people should be taxed more.
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Who is MacKenzie Scott really?
Mackenzie Scott was an author before all the money. She studied creative writing at Princeton University. In those early days, she wrote two novels and worked regular jobs while supporting the Amazon company.
Unlike other billionaires, Scott hates being in the spotlight. She rarely does interviews or makes public appearances. She is not a social media person. Only a few times a year, she writes a blog post explaining where she donates and why, but that’s about it. She sees money from a different perspective; wealth is something she is responsible for managing well and not something that makes her feel good or special.
Scott remarried to a science teacher named Dan Jewett in 2021, and they got divorced in 2023. She always maintained a level of privacy that is pretty remarkable for someone so wealthy.
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What it all means
Mackenzie Scott’s net worth is a moving target. It often goes up with the stock market and down with her donations, and fluctuates based on other economic factors. The interesting part is what she represents. She totally has a different way of thinking about extreme wealth. While other billionaires try to boost their income and give a small percentage of their fortunes, Scott is literally giving away as much money as possible to people who need it.
Her giving has made other people with massive wealth reconsider their approach to philanthropy. She has shown that trusting organizations and giving them big funding can be incredibly effective.
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MacKenzie Scott Net Worth Over The Last 10 Years
| Year | Estimated Net Worth |
|---|---|
| 2016 | $20 Billion |
| 2017 | $23 Billion |
| 2018 | $25 Billion |
| 2019 | $36 Billion (Post-divorce) |
| 2020 | $60 Billion |
| 2021 | $53 Billion |
| 2022 | $38 Billion |
| 2023 | $31 Billion |
| 2024 | $30 Billion |
| 2025 | $30–35 Billion |
Final Thoughts
Scott has said that she will continue giving until ‘the safe is empty’. It could take decades to happen. In a world of billionaires compete to increase their wealth and buy more companies, here is someone actually trying to have less.
Mackenzie Scott shows from her deeds that having more money than you could spend in a hundred lifetimes is not a blessing to hoard. But it is a responsibility to share.
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FAQs
MacKenzie Scott is an American novelist and philanthropist best known for her significant charitable giving and for being the former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
As of 2025, MacKenzie Scott’s net worth is estimated to be between $30 billion and $35 billion, depending on Amazon’s stock price.
She received roughly 4% of Amazon’s shares—around 19.7 million shares—after her 2019 divorce from Jeff Bezos, which was valued at about $36 billion at the time.
Since 2019, Scott has donated over $16 billion to more than 1,600 organizations working in education, public health, poverty relief, and social justice.
She provides no-strings-attached grants, allowing organizations full freedom to use the funds as they see fit—breaking traditional philanthropic norms.
Scott has stated she will continue donating until “the safe is empty,” aiming to give away most of her fortune during her lifetime.
