MacKenzie Scott, born MacKenzie S. Tuttle on April 7, 1970, in San Francisco, California, is an American novelist and philanthropist. She graduated from the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut in 1988 before attending Princeton University. At Princeton, she majored in English and graduated with highest honors in 1992. During her time there, she studied creative writing under Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, who later praised her as one of her most talented students.
Following her graduation, MacKenzie began her professional career at D.E. Shaw, a New York City-based hedge fund. It was there that she met Jeff Bezos, whom she married in 1993. In 1994, the couple relocated to Seattle, Washington, where Jeff Bezos founded Amazon, a company that would later revolutionize e-commerce and grow into a global retail titan.
MacKenzie and Jeff Bezos raised four children together—three sons and a daughter adopted from China. While Bezos became widely known for his role in growing Amazon, MacKenzie focused on literature and later, philanthropy.
MacKenzie is a published novelist. In 2005, she released her debut novel, The Testing of Luther Albright, which received critical acclaim and won an American Book Award. Her second novel, Traps, was published in 2013. Her writing career reflects her deep interest in complex emotional and ethical themes, a skill honed under the mentorship of Toni Morrison at Princeton.
Beyond writing, MacKenzie is also noted for her philanthropic work. She founded Bystander Revolution in 2014, an anti-bullying organization focused on encouraging individuals to take simple, everyday actions to combat bullying and promote kindness. The organization features videos and resources from students, celebrities, and thought leaders to help change social norms around bullying behavior.
In 2019, MacKenzie and Jeff Bezos finalized their divorce. As part of the settlement, she received 25% of the couple’s Amazon stock, amounting to roughly 4% of the company, making her one of the wealthiest individuals in the world. That same year, she signed the Giving Pledge, committing to donate the majority of her wealth to philanthropic causes throughout her lifetime. Her fortune at the time was estimated at approximately $37 billion—not $137 billion, as often misreported—and she became one of the most prominent philanthropists globally.
| Description: | Wikimedia disambiguation page |
| Net Worth 2021: | 55.5 billion |
