Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife MacKenzie Scott donates $7.1bn in 2025 after Amazon sale

MacKenzie Scott has marked 2025 as one of the most impactful years of her philanthropic career, donating more than $7.1 billion to charitable causes around the world. 

This record-breaking figure represents her largest annual round of giving to date and highlights the growing shift of technology wealth toward social and community-driven initiatives.

Scott, a billionaire author and longtime philanthropist, built much of her fortune through her early role at Amazon and her former marriage to its founder, Jeff Bezos. 

In 2025, Scott continued her practice of selling down her Amazon holdings, reducing her stake in the company by nearly 42%. 

The move allowed her to liquidate tens of billions of dollars in shares, freeing up capital for further charitable work.

In an essay published on her philanthropy platform, Yield Giving, Scott said she supported 186 organisations across different regions this year. 

The donations went to a wide range of causes, including colleges and universities, environmental groups, and organisations focused on equity, inclusion, and community development.

Scott stressed that her grants were largely unrestricted, allowing recipients to decide how best to use the funds based on local needs. She also played down the focus on headline figures.

“This dollar total will likely be reported in the news,” she wrote, “but any dollar amount is a vanishingly tiny fraction of the personal expressions of care being shared into communities this year.”