MacKenzie Scott is now the world's richest woman. With net worth of $68 billion, Scott has propelled past L'Oréal heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers to be the world's richest woman, according to Bloomberg's Billionaire index. She also happens to be the 12th most richest person in the world.
Scott is an American novelist, billionaire and venture philanthropist and was formerly married to Amazon boss Jeff Bezos. The couple was divorced in 2019. Scott received a quarter of Bezos' Amazon shares in the couple's divorce settlement in 2019. That equated to a 4% stake that was worth more than $35 billion at the time. Scott's bump up in wealth follows a surge in tech stock gains, which has led to other billionaire ranking shake ups at the top.
Here are few things about the world's richest woman and her divorce with Amazon boss Jeff Bezos after 25 years of marriage:
Scott and Bezos' Divorce:
The couple announced their divorce in January 2019 after being married for 25 years. Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos married in 1993 and have four children. Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in their Seattle garage in 1994 and turned it into a colossus that dominates online retail. The couple finalised their divorce on July 5 to the tune of a USD 38-billion settlement. At the time of the divorce, her stake was worth about $36 billion. Her fortune has grown to over $60 billion with a jump in Amazon’s shares this year. Under the agreement, Scott , 49, was to receive approximately 19.7 million Amazon.com shares, giving her a four percent stake in the company valued at USD 38.3 billion.
Scott and Bezos' Divorce Deal
At the time of divorce settlement, Scott had promised to donate half her fortune to charity, joining the ranks of the world's ultra-wealthy philanthropists as a signatory of the Giving Pledge. A year has passed since the couple were divorced. Scott has donated $1.7 billion of her wealth in the past year to causes including racial equality, LGBTQ rights, public health and climate change, she said in a blog post. In fact she found a mention in a study on super-rich individuals who pledged to give away most of their money to good causes are instead sitting on rising wealth.
Scott's Donations and Philanthropy
The co-authors of the report from the Institute for Policy Studies urged the wealthy to follow the example of Scott by donating directly to charities. "The Giving Pledgers set out in 2010 to give away half their wealth and instead their assets have doubled," said Chuck Collins, co-author of the "Gilded Giving" report. "By giving $1.7 billion directly to 116 charities, MacKenzie Scott (Bezos) has modelled what Giving Pledge billionaires should be doing with their wealth. The Giving Pledge initiative, founded by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates, encourages the world's richest people to dedicate a majority of their wealth to charitable causes. Bezos, the world's richest man, hasn't signed the pledge, according to a list of signatories.
Bezos' Boom in Pandemic
Amid a pandemic which has hurt businesses and economies alike, CEO of Amazon Jeff Bezos on August 26 became the first-ever individual to hit a net worth of $200 billion. The e-commerce platform stocks continued to soar even as the United States became the worst-affected country due to the novel coronavirus outbreak. On August 26, Amazon’s share price climbed 2.3 percent to $3,423 per share, helping Bezos enter the $200 billion net worth territory in the process. Bezos' net worth is more than Nike, McDonald’s and Pepsi, all three companies are valued between $139 billion and $191 billion, The Wrap's report said. Amazon's CEO and also the world's richest man is worth $204.6 billion as of August 27. He is $90 billion richer than Bill Gates, who is the world's second-richest person, currently worth $116.1 billion, as per a Forbes report.
(With inputs from agencies)
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