MacKenzie Scott donated $1.7B since divorce last year, Internet asks why can't 'greedy' Jeff Bezos do the same?
The former wife of the world’s wealthiest person Jeff Bezos, MacKenzie Scott is making headlines for making an impressive contribution towards charity since her divorce from the CEO of Amazon last year. According to Scott’s post on Medium, she has made a donation of a whopping $1.7B of her wealth for causes including racial equality, LGBTQ+ rights, public health and climate change.
She says in her post, "Like many, I watched the first half of 2020 with a mixture of heartbreak and horror. Life will never stop finding fresh ways to expose inequities in our systems; or waking us up to the fact that a civilization this imbalanced is not only unjust but also unstable. What fills me with hope is the thought of what will come if each of us reflects on what we can offer."
"I began work to complete my pledge with the belief that my life had yielded two assets that could be of particular value to others: the money these systems helped deliver to me, and a conviction that people who have experience with inequities are the ones best equipped to design solutions," she further added.
Scott’s gesture was appreciated by a significant number of people who took to Twitter to praise her for her contributions towards several causes. However, the majority of them are seen comparing her donations with her ex-husband’s, with some calling him "greedy" for not contributing enough.
Meanwhile, Bezos's biggest donation was the launch of a $2B fund in September 2018 for education programs for the homeless. He recently donated $100M to food banks through Feeding America during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, unlike his ex-wife Scott, Bezos hasn’t signed the Giving Pledge, a commitment by the world’s wealthiest individuals to donate the majority of the wealth in their lifetime. Following Scott’s latest blog, people are once again calling out Bezos for not being as “generous” as his former wife.
While one internet user wrote, "Mackenzie Scott (Bezos' ex-wife) has donated 1.7 billion to charity since her divorce last year. If she can donate that much money, there is no reason Jeff Bezos cannot. It's not a matter of financial inability (liquidity of assets), but a matter of greed." Another added, "This is how you billionaire properly. MacKenzie Scott is a stand up individual. Unlike her ex-husband who is actual human garbage."
Meanwhile, pointing at Scott’s contribution to Amazon one user wrote, "am*zon would not exist without mackenzie scott. At least half the company's foundational moves were made with or by her, so y'all finna stop referring to her as 'jeff bezos' ex wife who took whatever percent of his shares in the divorce' like that ain't her money too." Praising Scott for doing the good deed without trying to gain popularity from it one tweeted, "MacKenzie Scott (formerly Bezos) has tweeted twice: once to confirm her divorce had been finalized, and once to announce that she had recently donated nearly $1.7 billion. That’s how it’s done."