MacKenzie Scott cuts Amazon stake by 42%

MacKenzie Scott, the former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has significantly reduced her stake in the e-commerce giant, cutting her holdings by nearly 42% to $12.6 billion, according to a recent SEC filing made public on Tuesday. The filing, dated September 30, shows that Scott now owns 81.1 million Amazon shares—down 58 million from a year earlier.

This reduction comes even as Amazon’s stock has more than doubled since Scott’s 2019 divorce from Bezos, as first reported by Bloomberg. The filing did not specify whether the decline in holdings was due to share sales, donations, or a mix of both. Under the terms of their divorce settlement, Bezos retains voting control over Scott’s shares and reports them annually.

Billionaire philanthropist continues large-scale giving

With an estimated net worth of $32 billion, Scott obtained most of her wealth after her divorce in 2019, when she ended up with roughly 4% of Amazon. Since then, she has pledged to give away most of her fortune and has already donated about $19 billion to more than 2,000 nonprofit organizations across the United States.

The median size of her donations has been around $5 million, reflecting her preference for supporting smaller organizations often overlooked by major philanthropists.

Focus on education and equity initiatives

Among her most recent contributions, Scott gave $42 million to 10,000 Degrees, a Bay Area nonprofit that expands college access for low-income and predominantly non-white students. She also donated $70 million to historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) through the United Negro College Fund, part of a broader effort to close the funding gap with predominantly white institutions.

Over the years, Scott has supported a wide range of causes, including an $84 million gift to the Girl Scouts, $20 million to Vermont’s Champlain Housing Trust, $436 million to Habitat for Humanity, and $275 million to Planned Parenthood. She had previously donated $10 million to UNCF in 2020.