MacKenzie Scott unloaded 65.3 million shares in Amazon.com last year, or about a quarter of her stake in the company, according to a regulatory filing. 

Those shares would be worth US$10.4 billion at Friday’s (Jan 26) closing price.

After her divorce from Jeff Bezos in 2019, Scott ended up with roughly 4 per cent of the tech giant, a stake that was then worth around US$37 billion. Despite having disposed of about half of her shares over the past five years, Amazon still makes up the bulk of her US$37.6 billion net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Her fortune would be much bigger if it were not for her unprecedented philanthropy. Since the split from Bezos, Scott has donated more than US$16.5 billion to a wide range of charities – a huge amount even for one of the richest people on the planet. Scott releases a list of recipients on her website, including more than 360 organisations that received a total of US$2.15 billion in the past year.

In 2019, Scott signed the Giving Pledge, a non-binding promise billionaires make to donate the majority of their wealth.

“In addition to whatever assets life has nurtured in me, I have a disproportionate amount of money to share,” she wrote in a letter on the Giving Pledge website. “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.”

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Scott could not be reached for comment.

Bezos, worth US$184.1 billion, has not signed the Giving Pledge, but told CNN in 2022 that he planned to give away the majority of his wealth. BLOOMBERG