How a divorce made “MacKenzie Scott” richest woman in the world!
Byline by – Vinayak Heliwal
American novelist and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott is now the wealthiest woman in the world just days after her ex-husband Jeff Bezos became the world’s first $200 billion man.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, With a fortune value at $67 billion MacKenzie Scott is now the 12th richest person and the No. 1 wealthiest woman in the world, sitting comfortably one place ahead of the L’Oreal heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, who previously held the distinction.
Early last year, MacKenzie Scott who shares four children with Jeff Bezos announced the dissolution of their 25-year marriage following the revelation of his affair with former news anchor Lauren Sanchez. The couple’s divorce settlement has been ranked amongst the most expensive divorce of all time.
As part of the settlement, MacKenzie Scott(then MacKenzie Bezos) received 25 percent of the couple’s Amazon stock which gave her a 4 percent stake in the Amazon company amounting to around $38 billion. Soon after the divorce, Scott’s name started emerging in the world’s richest people list.
With Amazon’s stocks jumping roughly 28% over the last three months and 90% this year, the soar in shares has increased the wealth of Bezos to over $200 billion. This simultaneously made MacKenzie Scott the world’s richest woman with a whooping worth of around $67 billion. As customers stuck at home have turned to e-commerce giant Amazon for their shopping needs amidst the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
In July MacKenzie Scott announced that she had already donated around $1.7 billion to 116 organizations that included four historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Last year, MacKenzie Scott had also signed onto the Global Pledge initiative founded by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates. Although her ex-husband Jeff Bezos has still not signed the Pledge which is an initiative that encourages the World’s Richest people to dedicate a majority of their wealth to charitable causes.
The combined net worth of the world’s former richest couple is greater than $270 billion.