Mackenzie Scott gave away $6 billion in 2020 — and grew richer

(Image credit: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

published 15 June 2021

Mackenzie Scott is giving away money at a rapid rate, but her philanthropic efforts still didn't outpace what she brought in last year, The New York Times reports.

Scott, who was married to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and was heavily involved in the early days of the company, is one of the richest people in the world, and she's pledged to donate a majority of her wealth to philanthropic causes. In 2020, a year defined by the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout, Scott gave away nearly $6 billion to 500 different organizations.

Still, though, she "ended the year with more money than she started it," the Times notes, and her net worth was last roughly estimated at $60 billion by Forbes, per the Times. The reason for the increase? The stock market surged last year, and Scott has quite a large stake in Amazon. Read more at The New York Times.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.