MacKenzie Scott

MacKenzie Scott
MacKenzie Scott
Born	April 7, 1970 (age 56); San Francisco, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Author, philanthropist
Years active	1993–present
Known for	Early contributor to Amazon; philanthropy; author of The Testing of Luther Albright and Traps

MacKenzie Scott (née Tuttle, previously known as Bezos; born April 7, 1970) is an American author, philanthropist, and one of the early contributors to Amazon. She was married to Amazon's co-founder Jeff Bezos from 1993 until their divorce in 2019. As of July 2025, Scott's estimated net worth stands at US$41.9 billion, reflecting her 1.3% ownership in Amazon. She is ranked as the third-richest woman in the United States and holds the 40th position worldwide in wealth rankings. In recognition of her influence, Scott was included in Time’s list of the 100 most influential individuals in 2020 and featured among Forbes’s 100 most powerful women globally in both 2021 and 2023.

Scott received an American Book Award in 2006 for her first novel, The Testing of Luther Albright (published in 2005). Her follow-up novel, Traps, appeared in 2013. She is also the founder and executive director of Bystander Revolution, an anti-bullying initiative launched in 2014.

As a participant in the Giving Pledge, Scott has pledged to donate no less than half of her fortune. In 2020 alone, she contributed $5.8 billion to charitable causes—one of the largest individual philanthropic gifts recorded that year—followed by $2.7 billion in donations during 2021. By mid-December 2024, her total philanthropic giving had reached $19.3 billion distributed across more than 1,600 organizations.

Early life and education

MacKenzie Scott Tuttle was born on April 7, 1970, in San Francisco, California. She is the daughter of Holiday Robin (née Cuming), who was a homemaker, and Jason Baker Tuttle, a financial advisor. She has two brothers and was named after her maternal grandfather, G. Scott Cuming, who served as an executive and general counsel for El Paso Natural Gas. Her interest in writing began seriously at the age of six.

Scott completed her secondary education at the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut in 1988. She then earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Princeton University in 1992, where she studied under Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, who regarded her as among the top students in her creative writing courses.

Career

Following her graduation, Tuttle served as a research assistant to Morrison during the creation of the novel Jazz. She later took on an administrative position at the New York City hedge fund D. E. Shaw, where she first encountered Jeff Bezos.

Amazon

Scott and Bezos wed in 1993. The following year, they both departed from D. E. Shaw and relocated to Seattle, where Bezos established Amazon with Scott’s active involvement. She played a crucial role in the company’s early days, contributing to naming the business, crafting the initial business plan, overseeing account management and order fulfillment, and securing Amazon’s inaugural freight contract. After 1996, Scott scaled back her engagement to concentrate on her writing career and family life. Their eldest son was born in 2000.

Literary career

Scott’s first novel, The Testing of Luther Albright, was published in 2005 and earned an American Book Award in 2006. The novel required a decade to complete as she balanced her responsibilities with Amazon’s growth and raising her children. Her former professor, Toni Morrison, lauded the work as "a rarity: a sophisticated novel that breaks and swells the heart." Scott’s second book, Traps, appeared in 2013. According to NPD BookScan, sales figures for her books remained modest.

Personal life

Scott met Jeff Bezos at D. E. Shaw in 1992; they married three months later and moved from Manhattan to Seattle in 1994. Together, they have four children: three sons and an adopted daughter. Their firstborn son arrived in 2000.

Their divorce in 2019 resulted in Scott receiving $35.6 billion worth of Amazon stock under community property laws, while Bezos retained 75% of their shared Amazon holdings. This settlement positioned Scott as the third wealthiest woman worldwide and among the richest individuals globally by April 2019. In July 2020, Forbes ranked her as the 22nd-richest person worldwide with a net worth of $36 billion; by December that year, her estimated net worth had grown to $62 billion, making her the wealthiest woman on the planet.

After their separation, MacKenzie Bezos adopted the name MacKenzie Scott, using her middle name as her last name.

In 2021, Scott married Dan Jewett, a science teacher at Lakeside School; this was publicly disclosed through Jewett's Giving Pledge letter. In September 2022, Scott filed for divorce from Jewett, which was finalized in January 2023.

Philanthropy

In May 2019, Scott committed to the Giving Pledge, promising to donate the majority of her fortune to philanthropic causes during her lifetime or through her estate. The pledge is voluntary and not legally enforceable.

By July 2020, she had announced donations totaling $1.7 billion directed toward 116 nonprofit organizations focusing on racial justice, LGBTQ+ rights, democracy promotion, and climate action. Contributions exceeding $800 million were allocated to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving institutions, tribal colleges, and other higher education entities. By December 2020, she had given an additional $4.15 billion to 384 groups addressing economic fallout from COVID-19 and systemic inequities. Her total giving for 2020 amounted to $5.8 billion—among the largest annual private individual donations recorded.

In June 2021, Scott extended another $2.7 billion across 286 organizations. Forbes reported that between July 2020 and July 2021 she donated $8.5 billion to a total of 780 nonprofits. That same month, alongside Melinda French Gates, she launched the Equality Can't Wait Challenge which awarded $40 million aiming to advance gender equality and increase women's leadership roles within the United States.

Early in 2022, Scott contributed $264.5 million among nine organizations including $15 million to the Association for Women's Rights in Development. In March of that year, she gave $436 million to Habitat for Humanity and $275 million to Planned Parenthood; Big Brothers Big Sisters received $122.6 million in May 2022. Her philanthropic efforts extended internationally with grants supporting communities in Kenya, India, Brazil, Micronesia, and Latin America. By April 2022, cumulative donations since 2019 surpassed $12 billion.

In September 2022, Scott gifted two Beverly Hills properties valued at $55 million to the California Community Foundation for programs supporting affordable housing and immigrant integration initiatives. The following month she donated $84.5 million to Girl Scouts of the USA—the largest single individual gift in its history. By November 2022, total contributions reached nearly $14 billion distributed across approximately 1,500 organizations.

In March 2023, Scott initiated an open application process inviting community-based nonprofits with budgets between $1 million and $5 million to apply for unrestricted grants of $1 million each; she planned to fund 250 groups initially but received about 6,000 applications. By March 2024 she had awarded $640 million to 361 smaller nonprofits—exceeding initial targets—with grants ranging from $1 million up to $2 million per entity. In that year alone she donated nearly $2.2 billion supporting early childhood education, affordable housing projects, equity initiatives including health equity and civic engagement programs; additionally giving $5 million toward wildfire recovery through Hawaii Community Foundation. As of December 2023 total philanthropic contributions exceeded $16 billion; by March 2024 this figure increased to $17.2 billion.

In December 2024 Scott altered her approach by instructing advisors to prioritize investments in mission-driven for-profit enterprises tackling social challenges rather than focusing solely on traditional charitable donations; she highlighted withdrawing funds from aligned ventures rather than conventional investment portfolios.

Scott's philanthropy is notable for its unrestricted nature and rapid distribution—a departure from typical philanthropic practice—emphasizing empowerment of nonprofit organizations rather than donor recognition. She maintains that experienced frontline teams are best positioned to allocate resources effectively. A Center for Effective Philanthropy study found over half of surveyed nonprofits reported that her grants alleviated fundraising pressures allowing greater focus on core mission activities.

Her open call grantmaking has enabled organizations without prior funder relationships to receive consideration for support. Although early transparency regarding donation specifics faced some critique in late 2021, she responded by launching Yield Giving—a public database tracking her philanthropy—in December 2022; named for its philosophy of enhancing impact by relinquishing control over funds.

Bibliography

The Testing of Luther Albright, Fourth Estate, 2005, ISBN 978-0-00-719287-8
Traps, Knopf, 2013, ISBN 978-0-307-95973-7