Jeff Bezos’ Ex-Wife Makes Major Financial Change After His New Wife Was Told ‘Money Can’t Buy Class’ Following Their Tense Red Carpet Moment
The latest headlines about Jeff Bezos and his new wife, Lauren Sánchez, have to do with their appearance at the Vanity Fair Oscars party. Meanwhile, the latest headlines about Mackenzie Scott, Bezos’ ex-wife, are very different. Scott, who promised she would donate all her wealth during the course of her life after her big divorce settlement from Bezos, continues to make news due to her philanthropy.
Scott just donated $42 million to Elizabeth City State University, a small public historically Black college in North Carolina. “I want to express our deepest gratitude to MacKenzie Scott for this remarkable act of generosity and for her recognition of the critical role that HBCUs play in expanding opportunity and strengthening communities,” said ECSU Chancellor S. Keith Hargrove, Sr., in a statement. “Her investment affirms what we already know: that institutions like ECSU are powerful catalysts for change.”
Related: How do Jeff Bezos’s kids feel about Lauren Sanchez?
The donation was announced during the school’s 135th anniversary Founders Day Convocation. It was almost triple what ECSU received from Scott in 2020, according to a press release from the University. Not just that, it was the largest dollar per student enrolled gift of any HBCU that has received a donation from Scott recently.
In 2025, Scott donated an estimated $7.2 billion to 186 organizations, according to Forbes. That’s the most money donated in a single year since the magazine began tracking donations in 2012. She has reportedly donated a staggering $26 billion in the last five years.
Scott is still worth $39 billion, despite her extensive donations. Her ex-husband, Bezos, meanwhile, has a reported net worth of $230.2 billion.
Recent reports focused on how Scott picks the subjects of her donations. Reportedly, she does “quiet research” with help from a “small internal” staff and advisers. Then, she’ll just send an email and set up a quick call with the recipient. Ironically, this approach made it so Scott wasn’t even on the Chronicle of Philanthropy list of the top 50 donors this past year, because they couldn’t independently verify her donations.
Talk about not doing good deeds for the sake of the spotlight.
Reports about Scott’s charitable contributions come after the press and social media scrutinized an interaction between Bezos and Sánchez. The couple attended the Vanity Fair post-Oscars party, and while they were posing on the red carpet, they had a couple of noteworthy moments. One was getting unintentionally photobombed by Nicole Kidman. The other? At one point after they took pictures together, Sánchez was seen saying something to her husband, who then walked out of the shot.
Did she just want a picture by herself? Bezos didn’t look too upset to step back, but people online still had a lot to say about what went on behind the two, which Vanity Fair showcased in a video.
“Proof that money can’t buy class!” one person sentenced in the comments. Another person made fun of what happened, noting, “Lauren: Step away, hubby. You’re hogging my camera time,” along with laughing emojis.
