Jeff Bezos' Ex-Wife Mackenzie Scott Now Richest Woman In The World

KEY POINTS

Bloomberg named Mackenzie Scott the richest woman in the world and placed her among the top 15 richest people in the world
A large part of Scott's wealth came from her 2019 divorce settlement with her ex-husband, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos
Scott has since donated over $1.7 billion to causes promoting racial equity, gender equity, and climate change

Author and philanthropist Mackenzie Scott has climbed the list of world's richest people and Bloomberg now lists her as the richest woman in the world, surpassing Alice Walton.

She is now No. 12 on the list with an estimated net worth of $64.8 billion.

Scott earned her place on the list in 2019 after a divorce settlement with Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. Scott received 25% of the couple’s Amazon stock, which equated to around $38 billion.

The divorce was finalized in January 2019.

Since the divorce, Scott has pledged to donate a majority of her wealth to various charitable causes and organizations via The Giving Pledge. By July, she said she already donated over $1.7 billion to several causes. She said most of the initial pledges went to causes promoting racial equity, LGBTQ+ equity, gender equity, public health, and climate change.

Racial equity topped the list with $586,700,000 in donations from Scott.

The next-highest woman on the list is Walton at No. 16 with an estimated net worth of $62.4 billion. Walton is the daughter of Walmart and Sam’s Club founder Sam Walton and is one of three living heirs to the family’s fortune. Her brothers, Rob and Jim Walton, are the other two and are No. 14 and 15 on Bloomberg’s list, respectively.