AMAZON CHIEF’S EX-WIFE GIVES AWAY BILLIONS
MACKENZIE SCOTT, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has revealed she has given away $4.1billion (£3billion) in four months to food banks and emergency relief funds.
The novelist, who is the world’s 18thrichest person after divorcing the tech magnate last year, said she had ‘accelerated’ her donations as so many were struggling in the pandemic.
In a blog post, the 50-yearold described coronavirus as ‘a wrecking ball in the lives of Americans already struggling’ and said it had been worse for women, people of colour and the poorest. ‘Meanwhile, it has substantially increased the wealth of billionaires,’ she wrote.
Super-rich investors made money betting that stock markets would recover after collapsing in March.
But Ms Scott has been focused on reducing her bank balance and – after revealing in July she had given away £1.23billion to 116 non-profit groups – called on advisers to find more worthy causes to help.
She said the team identified organisations with strong leaders and track records, working in communities with high food insecurity and racial inequality. The £3billion will be shared by 384 organisations in the US and Puerto Rico.
Ms Scott said last May – just before her divorce was finalised – that she had signed the Bill Gates and Warren Buffett Giving Pledge, which invites the world’s richest to give away at least half their wealth before they die.
Jeff Bezos, whose relationship with former news anchor Lauren Sanchez was revealed in a National Enquirer exposé last year, is reportedly the only one of the US’s top five richest not to have signed. Amazon sales have soared thanks to lockdowns.