MacKenzie Bezos is the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and is recognized as the third-wealthiest woman in the world after a divorce settlement that left her with an estimated $37 billion. [1]
She is the founder and executive director of the anti-bullying advocacy group Bystander Revolution.
Background
Mackenzie Bezos is the third-wealthiest woman in the world and the ex-wife of Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. [2]
MacKenzie was reportedly supportive of Bezos decision to begin Amazon as an e-commerce site in 1994. She helped created Amazon’s first business plan and was Amazon’s first accountant. [3]
The two have three sons and one adopted daughter. [4]
Early Life
While at Princeton University, MacKenzie Tuttle was a student and later research assistant for Nobel-prize winning novelist Toni Morrison. Morrison called her “one of the best students I’ve ever had in my creative writing classes.” [5]
To pay the bills while pursuing a writing career, Tuttle worked as an administrative assistant at the financial firm D.E. Shaw. While there, she met Jeff Bezos, who was the firm’s youngest vice president. [6]
The two dated for three months before getting engaged and were married three months later. He was 30 and she was 23. [7]
Professional Life
MacKenzie Bezos helped Jeff launch Amazon, helping him brainstorming a name for the company and ship packages through UPS. She stepped back to focus on the couple’s children and her literary career. [8]
Aside from making a few public appearances with her husband during their marriage, she was not a public figure and described herself as a “bookish introvert.” She drew some attention for writing a one-star, highly negative review of The Everything Store by Brad Stone, a book critical of Amazon. [9]
In 2005, her first book, The Testing of Luther Albright, was released. Her second novel, Traps came out in 2013. [10]
In 2014, MacKenzie Bezos founded Bystander Revolution, an anti-bullying nonprofit where she serves as the executive director. [11]
Divorce
After 25 years of marriage, Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos divorced in 2019. The couple issued a statement in January 2019 that said, “After a period of loving exploration and trial separation, we have decided to divorce and continue our shared lives as friends.” [12]
After the announcement, tabloid National Enquirer reported that Jeff Bezos had conducted extramarital affair with Lauren Sanchez. [13]
In the divorce settlement, MacKenzie got a 4 percent stake in Amazon, valued at about $37 billion, but gave up ownership of the other companies her husband owns, such as the Washington Post and Blue Origin. [14]
It was the largest divorce settlement in history, with the distant second being the $2.5 billion settlement in 1999 between art dealer Alec Wildenstein and Jocelyn Wildenstein. [15]
The settlement made her the third-wealthiest woman in the world, notably only ranking behind two women who had inherited most of their wealth. The only two women who are wealthier are L’Oréal heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers and Walmart heiress Alice Walton. [16]
Less than two months after finalizing the divorce, she announced she planned to give away at least half of her money to charity over her lifetime. She signed Warren Buffet and Bill Gates’s “Giving Pledge.” She wrote, “I have a disproportionate amount of money to share. My approach to philanthropy will continue to be thoughtful. It will take time and effort and care. But I won’t wait. And I will keep at it until the safe is empty.” [17]
$1.7 Donation to Nonprofit Organizations
In July 2020, MacKenzie Bezos revealed that she had donated $1.7 billion to 117 nonprofit organizations, including the Movement for Black Lives. The Movement for Black Lives seeks to eradicate prisons, police departments, and other institutions they claim inflict systemic violence on black communities. [18]
The majority of the nonprofit organizations receiving money from MacKenzie are led by women, LGBT individuals, and ethnic minorities. The recipient organizations must support programs that fall under the following categories: Racial Equity, LGBTQ Equity, Empathy & Bridging Divides, Gender Equity, Economic Mobility, Functional Democracy, Public Health, Global Development and Climate Change.
The Point Foundation, an organization that provides financial aid to LGBT college students, received money from MacKenzie. According to Jorge Valencia, the chief executive officer and director of the organization, there was no application process for the donation and his organization possessed no previous connection to MacKenzie. [19]