‘Take Notes’: Jeff Bezos’ Ex-Wife Quietly Flexes Her Fortune While His New Wife Catches Heat for How She’s Spending His Money
When Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his ex-wife Mackenzie Scott divorced in 2019, Scott left with $36 billion dollars worth of Amazon shares. For the past six years, she’s been pretty generous with the money, and that generosity has not ceased.
On Wednesday, Oct. 15, reports announced Scott’s record-breaking $63 million donation to gifted Morgan State University. It’s the largest amount of money that the school has ever been given at once, but this isn’t the first time she’s given the third-largest HBCU a “transformative contribution,” as the school called it.
With this second donation, Scott has now gifted the school a total of $103 million over the past five years.
Scott is known to give generous donations that are unrestricted, giving the school full control of how to best use the money to support their mission.
Morgan State University announced its plans for the funds in a press release, stating that the $63 million will be used to strengthen the university’s endowment, expand support for student success, and advance initiatives that reinforce Morgan’s role as both an anchor institution in Baltimore and a leading Public Impact Very High Research University.
When she and Bezos went their separate ways, Scott signed The Giving Pledge, vowing to donate her finances “until the safe is empty.” The news of her latest donation spread like wildfire and people are reacting to how Scott has chosen to spend her ex-husband’s money.
Baltimore radio station, 92QJams Baltimore, shared the announcement on Facebook where one fan replied, “She spending that Jeff Bezos money.”
On Morgan State’s Instagram post about the news, another person said, “MacKenzie using that Bezos money the right way.”
Someone else on Black Millionaire’s post said, “Jeff needs to take notes, she is seemingly a better woman without him (and I bet she was the same woman when she was with him). Sadly, he did not see her true value.”
On Forbes’ post, a person seemingly took a swipe at Bezos’ current wife, Lauren Sanchez. “So you mean Jeff Bezos had a woman who wasn’t with him for his money?! Where’d he meet her?!”
Another said, “She’s donating while Jeff is blowing millions in rockets lol. However, both [are] actually good [and] necessary. I still rather do what she’s doing.”
“He is a liar. He openly had an affair, also his first wife helped him with the start of Amazon and worked hard for the company. This Bezos had a middle age crisis and started this affair with a married [woman],” claimed one Facebook user.
Many people believe the former journalist was only drawn to Bezos for his wealth. The pair have been scrutinized for their lavish lifestyle and spending, including their $50 million wedding in Venice, which angered locals and Americans.
However, their romance started off as a scandal as they were both married to other people when they got involved — Bezos to Scott and Sanchez to executive chairman of Endeavor, Patrick Whitesell.
The National Enquirer exposed their affair in January 2019, sharing photos of intimate texts between them. By that April, Sanchez filed for divorce after 13 years of marriage.
Shortly after, Scott divorced Bezos after 26 years of marriage in July 2019. The former couple share three sons and one adopted daughter.
Earlier this year, reports claimed that Scott has donated over $9 billion since she and Bezos split. She’s given millions of dollars to a list of other HBCUs, including Prairie View A&M University, Tuskegee College, Virginia State University, and Hampton University to name a few.
And while she’s been busy giving away her fortune, Scott’s also been making major financial moves of her own. Reports reveal she recently slashed her Amazon stake by 42 percent — roughly $12.6 billion — leaving her with 81.1 million shares. Bezos, meanwhile, sold about 100 million shares last year and now owns about 9 percent of the company.
As for Bezos and Sanchez, they are currently in a legal battle with her estranged brother, Michael Sanchez. It started back in 2019, when Bezos accused Michael of leaking their texts to the tabloid. Michael denied the claims and tried to sue his current brother-in-law for defamation but the case was dismissed.
Bezos countersued with an Anti-Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation motion, which protects one against frivolous lawsuits.
In a new motion they filed in July of this year, Bezos and Sanchez are seeking over $190,000 from Michael. The money is the amount they “incurred in connection with (1) her successful Special Motion to Strike, and (2) this Motion for Attorney’s Fees and Costs.”
The breakdown is $182,374 in attorney’s fees and $8,182 in legal costs.