Scott Mackenzie: is there a family office?

This article directly stems from the research process for our European single family office database. Our list of U.S. single family offices includes the most important family investment vehicles that invest in various areas, such as financial markets, real estate, venture capital, private equity and renewables.

Mackenzie is the ex-wife of the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos. The two were married for 25 years and recently split in 2019. As a result, she received a 25% stake in Amazon and as of September 2022, she has an estimated net worth of $34bn putting her as the 31st richest person in the world and in the top 5 richest women in America. Mackenzie was involved in the early days of Amazon but later took a step back to focus on family and her literary career having majored in English at Princeton. In this article, we will investigate if Scott Mackenzie operates her holdings through a family office.

No family office but a clear focus on philanthropy and donations

Currently, no family office exists for Scott Mackenzie. Shortly after the divorce, Mackenzie signed the Giving Pledge which means she has committed to donating at least half of her wealth during her lifetime. Mackenzie set up Lost Horse to funnel her donations, including $436m to Habitat for Humanity in 2022 which was her largest known gift at the time. In July 2020, Scott created a website called Medium to unveil her philanthropic ambitions which included plants to support members of the LGBTQ community, equality, and people of colour. In 2020, Scott donated $5.8bn, putting her amongst the world’s largest donators and adopting a “no strings attached” approach, meaning the recipient has complete control over the money. In 2022, Scott announced her support of the Global Citizen Year program to aid the development of future leaders and provide experience to up to 10,000 participants per year by 2027.

Picture source: Alexander Gray