MacKenzie Scott

MacKenzie Scott (née Tuttle, formerly Bezos; April 7, 1970)[3][4] is an American novelist and venture philanthropist. She has served as the executive director of Bystander Revolution, an anti-bullying organization she founded, since 2014.

For the musician named Mackenzie Scott, see Torres (musician).

MacKenzie Scott
Born
MacKenzie Scott Tuttle

(1970-04-07) April 7, 1970
San Francisco, California, U.S.
EducationPrinceton University (BA)
Occupation
  • Novelist
  • philanthropist
Net worthUS$59.5 billion or $60.8 billion (July 2020) (estimate)[1][lower-alpha 1]
Spouse(s)
​
(
m. 1993; div. 2019)
Children4
AwardsAmerican Book Award (2006)

Born and raised in San Francisco, California, Scott graduated from Princeton University in 1992 where she studied under writer Toni Morrison. After graduating, she worked for D. E. Shaw, a quantitative hedge fund in New York, as an administrative assistant from 1992 to 1994. Scott wrote her debut novel, The Testing of Luther Albright, eleven years later in 2005 for which she won an American Book Award in 2006.

Scott was married to Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, from 1993 to 2019. Their divorce made her the third-wealthiest woman in the world and one of the wealthiest people overall by April 2019.[5][6] In June 2020, it was revealed by Forbes magazine that she is the 22nd richest person in the world, largely due to her $38 billion divorce settlement.[7] A month later, she signed the Giving Pledge, committing to give at least half of her wealth to charity.[8] As of July 29, 2020, Scott was ranked 22nd-richest person in the world by Forbes with a net worth estimated at $36 billion.[1]

Early life and career

MacKenzie Scott Tuttle was born on April 7, 1970, in San Francisco, California. Her father was a financial planner.[9] In 1988, she graduated from Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut.[10] Tuttle earned her bachelor's degree in English at Princeton University with highest honors in 1992.[6] She studied under writer Toni Morrison, who said Tuttle was "one of the best students I've ever had" in her creative writing classes.[9]

After graduating, she worked for D. E. Shaw, a quantitative hedge fund in New York, as a recruiter and a writer from 1992 to 1994. There, she worked for Jeff Bezos, then a senior vice-president, as a research associate.[11] MacKenzie wrote her debut novel, The Testing of Luther Albright, eleven years later in 2005 for which she won an American Book Award in 2006. Her second novel, Traps, was published in 2013.

In 2014, MacKenzie founded Bystander Revolution, an anti-bullying organization, where she serves as executive director.[12]

Personal life
MacKenzie Scott (fifth from left) at the 2016 naturalization ceremony for her daughter.

MacKenzie was married to Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, from 1993 to 2019.[13][14] She met him while working as his assistant at D. E. Shaw in 1992; after three months of dating in New York they married and moved to Seattle, Washington in 1994.[6] They have four children: three sons and one daughter adopted from China.[15] Their communal property divorce in 2019 left MacKenzie with US$35.6 billion in Amazon stock while her ex-husband retained 75% of the couple's Amazon stock.[6] She became the third-wealthiest woman in the world and one of the wealthiest people overall in April 2019.[5][6] MacKenzie kept her last name instead of reverting to her maiden name, Tuttle,[16] but later began going by the name MacKenzie Scott, with the surname derived from her middle name.[4]

Awards

Scott is the author of The Testing of Luther Albright, a debut novel, which in 2006 won an American Book Award.[17]

Philanthropy

In May 2019, she signed the Giving Pledge, a charitable giving campaign in which she willingly committed to give away most her wealth to charity over her lifetime or in her will, though her pledge is legally non-binding.[18] Within a year of joining the Giving Pledge, Scott had donated $1.7 billion to 116 non-profit organizations, with a focus on racial equality, LGBTQ+ equality, democracy, and climate change.[19]

Books
  • The Testing of Luther Albright. Fourth Estate. 2005. ISBN 978-0-00-719287-8.[20]
  • Traps. Knopf. 2013. ISBN 978-0-307-95973-7.[21]

See also

References
  1. "MacKenzie Scott". Forbes. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  2. "Bloomberg Billionaires Index". Bloomberg.
  3. Trotter, J.K. (January 22, 2019). "What we know, and don't know, about Jeff Bezos' religious beliefs". Insider. Retrieved February 12, 2020. ...marriage of Jeffrey Preston Bezos and MacKenzie Scott Tuttle.
  4. Statt, Nick (July 28, 2020). "MacKenzie Scott has already donated nearly $1.7 billion of her Amazon wealth since divorcing Jeff Bezos". The Verge. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  5. Schleifer, Theodore (April 4, 2019). "MacKenzie Bezos, with $35 billion, is now the world's third-wealthiest woman". Recode. Archived from the original on April 25, 2019. Retrieved April 4, 2019.
  6. Bromwich, Jonah Engel; Alter, Alexandra (January 12, 2019). "Who Is MacKenzie Bezos?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on June 13, 2020. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
  7. Business, Jordan Valinsky, CNN. "Jeff Bezos tops Forbes list of billionaires, again". CNN. Archived from the original on June 3, 2020. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
  8. Gren, Christy (May 29, 2019). "MacKenzie Bezos Signs The Giving Pledge and Pledges to give Half Her Fortune". Industry Leaders Magazine. Archived from the original on July 13, 2019. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
  9. Johnson, Rebecca (February 20, 2013). "MacKenzie Bezos: Writer, Mother of Four, and High-profile Wife". Vogue. Archived from the original on February 20, 2017. Retrieved August 23, 2013.
  10. "Alumni Award: Previous Recipients". The Hotchkiss School. 2004. Archived from the original on March 10, 2015. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  11. Sumagaysay, Levi (November 5, 2013). "Quoted: She Said, He Said – MacKenzie Bezos Vs. Author Of Book On Amazon". SiliconBeat. The Mercury News. Archived from the original on November 13, 2013. Retrieved November 13, 2013.
  12. "Bystander Revolution". Archived from the original on February 14, 2015. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
  13. Bayers, Chip (March 1999). "The Inner Bezos". Wired. Vol. 7 no. 3. Archived from the original on August 31, 2013. Retrieved August 23, 2013.
  14. Snider, Mike (January 9, 2019). "Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and wife MacKenzie to divorce after 25 years of marriage". USA Today. Archived from the original on January 9, 2019. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  15. "Jeff Bezos Fast Facts". CNN. 2019. Archived from the original on December 12, 2018. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  16. "Jeff Bezos to keep 75 percent of couple's Amazon stock after finalizing divorce". CNBC. Archived from the original on April 4, 2019. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  17. "American Book Award Winners 2006" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on December 8, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  18. Schleifer, Theodore (May 28, 2019). "MacKenzie Bezos signed the philanthropic commitment her ex-husband spurned". Vox. Archived from the original on May 27, 2020. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
  19. Iyengar, Rishi (July 28, 2020). "MacKenzie Scott, formerly Bezos, says she has given away $1.7 billion of her wealth so far". CNN Business. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  20. Bezos, MacKenzie; Sutherland, Brian (December 10, 2013). The Testing of Luther Albright (Unabridged ed.). Brilliance Audio. ISBN 9781480569157.
  21. Bezos, MacKenzie (November 5, 2013). Traps. New York: Vintage. ISBN 9780307950291. Archived from the original on December 17, 2019. Retrieved September 7, 2019.
  1. Sources differ. A source giving $60 billion is Bloomberg.[2]
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