MacKenzie Scott And Husband Are Giving Away Billions

Billionaire MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has married a science teacher from Seattle. Dan Jewett, a science teacher at the private Lakeside School, said that he was joining his wife in a pledge to give away a majority of their wealth. "In a stroke of happy coincidence, I am married to one of the most generous and kind people I know-and joining her in a commitment to pass on an enormous financial wealth to serve others," Mr Jewett wrote on the Giving Pledge, a campaign created by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett to encourage billionaire philanthropy.

MacKenzie Scott married Jeff Bezos in 1993. The couple divorced in 2019. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is the world's richest person with a $176.6 billion fortune.

Since her divorce, Ms Scott has given away more than $4 billion of her fortune, according to a Medium post she wrote in December. It was in 2019 that she revealed her philanthropic vision on the Giving Pledge, writing that she had a "disproportionate amount of money to share."

Ms Scott, one of the world's wealthiest women, had said that her approach to philanthropy would be "thoughtful" but that she would keep at it "until the safe is empty."

In a post dated Saturday on Ms Scott's page on the Giving Pledge website, her husband signed on to her commitment. "It is strange to be writing a letter indicating I plan to give away the majority of my wealth during my lifetime, as I have never sought to gather the kind of wealth required to feel like saying such a thing would have particular meaning," Dan Jewett wrote.

He said that recognising how much he had to learn them others led him to a partner who is similarly inclined. "We are united in that understanding and in our excitement for all we have to learn from so many people working in service of others," he wrote. "With that as a foundation, I join with the kindest and most thoughtful person I know in making this pledge, grateful for the exceptional privilege it will be to partner in giving away assets with the potential to do so much good when shared."

The Seattle science teacher signed off by saying that the commitment to philanthropy would benefit him as much as it would benefit others, and that he looked forward to "the growth and learning I have ahead as a part of this undertaking with MacKenzie."

According to Forbes, Ms Scott is worth $53 billion. When her divorce was finalised in 2019, she joined the Giving Pledge, promising to give away half her fortune to charity in her lifetime.