The Benevolent Billionaire
MacKenzie Bezos Gifts Half Her Fortune
Soon-to-be-single spouse of online mega marketplace mogul Jeff Bezos, MacKenzie Bezos is turning personal heartbreak into global happiness to the tune of $17 billion.Married since 1993 to Amazon CEO and Founder Jeff Bezos, MacKenzie Bezos unceremoniously found her long-term marriage embroiled in a highly publicized cheating scandal earlier this year when her husband’s philandering proclivities were revealed through a series of steamy text messages, surreptitious, sexy snaps, and saucy selfies with television personality veteran Lauren Sanchez. Having just celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary before learning of the illicit, lusty liaison
between the two-timing twosome, MacKenzie would soon become the world’s third richest woman, second to Alice Walton of famed Walmart, worth$47.1 billion. Loreal beauty heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers leads the pack of the world’s wealthiest women with an empire estimated at a mind-blowing $53.6 billion. Though the Bezos’ impending split is reportedly amicable, MacKenzie will return to the single life with roughly $35 billion in-pocket - the largest divorce settlement in Splitsville history after receiving 4% of the steep Amazon stock. Not bad for a girl back on the market and burgeoning on brand-new beginnings!
A notable novelist, Mackenzie is the latest billionaire to sign Bill Gates’ and Warren Buffet’s philanthropic project Giving Pledge, donating half of her entire Amazon fortune. In a recent interview published by Giving Pledge, Bezos humbly acknowledges, “…having a disproportionate amount of money to share” and duly credits “an infinite series of lucky breaks we can never fully understand” for her prodigious wealth.
Bezo’s altruistic commitment to the nearly decade-old charitable organization is joined by hedge fund billionaires David Harding and Paul Tudor Jones, as well as Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Virgin Atlantic’s Richard Branson, and WhatsApp co-founder Bruce Acton, totaling more than 200 signatories. Founded in August 2010, Giving Pledge launched with 40 of America’s most wealthy individuals dedicated to donating more than half their fortunes.
A Notable novelist, MacKenzie writes, “My approach to philanthropy will continue to be thoughtful. It will take time and effort and care. But, I won’t wait. I will keep at it until the safe is empty.”
No stranger to charity and leadership, in 2014, MacKenzie founded anti-bullying non-profit “Bystander Revolution,” an organization which seeks to end bullying and social victimization through benevolence and inclusivity. She is the author psychological thriller The Testing of Luther Albright, an American Book Award winner. MacKenzie met Jeff Bezos while both were employed at hedge fund D. E. Shaw in New York. They married in 1993 and have four children.
MacKenzie Bezo proves paying it forward is the best payback.