Jeff Bezos’s ex-wife MacKenzie Scott has significantly reduced her stake in Amazon, trimming her holdings by nearly 42% to about $12.6 billion, according to a recent SEC filing cited by Bloomberg. Despite the stock’s strong performance since her 2019 divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Scott has continued to offload shares, now owns 81.1 million shares, 58 million fewer than she held a year ago.
This comes as Jeff Bezos’s ex-wife, Scott continues donating millions to universities, reflecting her commitment to advancing racial equity and supporting historically Black colleges and universities across the United States. Her latest contribution is an $80 million gift to Howard University, one of the largest in the school’s 158-year history.
Howard University announced the donation over the weekend, noting that it comes amid a wave of large-scale giving from Scott. With an estimated net worth of $35.6 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal, she has recently directed several multimillion-dollar contributions toward diversity, equity, inclusion initiatives, and disaster relief efforts.
The contribution comes without spending restrictions, giving Howard University full discretion over how to use the funds. The school plans to direct $63 million toward overall institutional support and reserve $17 million for its College of Medicine.
READ: Jeff Bezos’ former spouse MacKenzie Scott donates to HBCUs, Black heritage preservation (
Reflecting on the contribution, Wayne A.I. Frederick, Howard interim president and president emeritus, stated in a statement, saying, “this historic investment will not only help maintain our current momentum, but will help support essential student aid, advance infrastructure improvements, and build a reserve fund to further sustain operational continuity, student success, academic excellence, and research innovation.
Scott’s gift to Howard University adds to a growing list of contributions aimed at promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. Recently, she donated $42 million to 10,000 Degrees, a Bay Area nonprofit that helps low-income and minority students access higher education. She has also made several other major donations, including multi-million-dollar contributions to programs supporting Native student scholars and HBCU endowments through the United Negro College Fund.
Recent key contributions made by Scott :
- 2025 – $80 million to Howard University: Unrestricted gift directed toward the university’s general operations and the College of Medicine.
- 2025 – $70 million to United Negro College Fund (UNCF): Funding to strengthen endowments across 37 historically Black colleges and universities.
- 2025 – $42 million to 10,000 Degrees (Bay Area nonprofit): Largest donation in the organization’s history, aimed at expanding college access for low-income students.
- 2024 – $640 million – 361 community-led nonprofits (Open Call Initiative): Major unrestricted grants distributed through her philanthropic platform, supporting community-driven organizations nationwide.
Howard University described the contribution as arriving at an “opportune time,” noting that the ongoing federal government shutdown has delayed its annual appropriations that help fund student programs, research, academic initiatives, and operations at both the university and Howard University Hospital. The shutdown, which started on October 1, has also paused new grant approvals from the Department of Education, where nearly 95% of non-student aid employees have been furloughed, leaving only essential staff on duty.
READ: Amazon Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife MacKenzie Scott donates $70 million to support UNCF (
Scott has remained in the public eye for her large-scale giving since finalizing her divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in 2019. Valued at around $37 billion at that time, she joined the Giving Pledge, a campaign launched by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates in 2010, pledging to donate most of her wealth to charitable causes.
A year after joining the Giving Pledge, Scott revealed in a July 2020 Medium post that she had donated nearly $1.7 billion to a range of organizations, including Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Black Girls CODE, Educate Girls, LatinoJustice, and the Transgender Law Center, among others. Later that year, she and a group of advisors announced the distribution of more than $4 billion to 384 organizations across the United States to support communities impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, Scott and her then-husband Dan Jewett contributed about $2.74 billion to 286 organizations focused on causes and communities that have traditionally lacked funding. The following year, she donated nearly $570 million to various nonprofit groups across multiple sectors.