Scott Mackenzie: is there a family office?

Mackenzie is the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. They were married for 25 years and  separated in 2019. As a result, she received a 25% stake in Amazon and as of September 2022, she has an estimated net worth of $34 billion. Despite her extensive philanthropic activities, she has managed to increase her wealth to an estimated $35.6 billion. This makes her one of the five richest women in America. Scott was involved in the early days of Amazon, but later took a step back to focus on her family and her literary career after studying English at Princeton. In this article we will investigate whether Scott Mackenzie runs her holdings through a family office.

No MacKenzie Scott Family Office but focus on philanthropy and donations

There is currently no Mackenzie Scott family office. Shortly after her divorce, she signed the Giving Pledge, committing to giving away at least half of her fortune during her lifetime. Mackenzie set up Lost Horse to channel her donations, including $436m to Habitat for Humanity in 2022, which was her largest known gift at the time. In July 2020, Scott created a website called Medium to unveil her philanthropic ambitions, which included plants to support members of the LGBTQ community, equality and people of colour. In 2020, Scott donated $5.8 billion, making her one of the world’s largest donors. She was using a “no strings attached” approach, meaning the recipient has complete control over the money. In 2022, Scott announced her support for the Global Citizen Year programme to support the development of future leaders. The programm provides experience for up to 10,000 participants per year by 2027.

In 2023 MacKenzie Scott donated nearly $2.2 billion in 2023 to 360 organisations. Until now she says that she already donated $17.3 billion to more than 2,300 nonprofit organisations.

Picture source: Alexander Gray