MacKenzie Bezos Officially Becomes The Third Richest Woman In World

With Amazon shares worth $36.8 billion to her name, MacKenzie Bezos has officially become the world's third-richest woman and the second-largest shareholder in the company, after her ex-husband Jeff Bezos. A few days ago, Jeff Bezos completed all the paperwork regarding transferring of a quarter of his shares in the e-retail giant to his ex-wife as a part of their divorce settlement. The regulatory filings shed some light on the financial settlement in the much talked about divorce, details of which have largely remained unknown to the public as of yet.

After Jeff Bezos transferred shares worth $36.8 billion in his ex-wife's name, Mackenzie, according to Forbes, became the third richest woman in the world.

Officially The Third Richest Woman And 23rd Richest Person In The World

After the paperwork was completed and Jeff Bezos transferred the shares worth $36.8 billion, Mackenzie, according to Forbes, became the third richest woman in the world. Ahead of her are Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, who is the heiress to the brand L'Oréal and is worth $53.7 billion, and Alice Walton, who is the daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton, who is worth $50.4 billion.

The settlement also made her the 23rd richest person in the world after Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, whose personal wealth stands at $40 billion. Jeff Bezos, however, still remains the richest person in the world.

Set to give half of it away

Earlier in June, Mackenzie Bezos became the wealthiest woman to sign the Giving Pledge. Soon after her divorce settlement, she promised to give half of her assets away. “I have a disproportionate amount of money to share,” she declared. “I will keep at it until the safe is empty”.

The settlement also made her the 23rd richest person in the world after Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, whose personal wealth stands at $40 billion. Jeff Bezos, however, still remains the richest person in the world.

Giving away half of her assets, which stand at around $17 billion today isn't the first time Mackenzie will be parting with huge amount of personal wealth. Back in 2018, when she was still married to Jeff Bezos, the couple had decided to donate $2 billion for the homeless and fund a network of schools too.

Wrote her first novel at the age of six

MacKenzie Bezos has two books to her name as an author namely, ‘The Testing of Luther Albright’ in 2005 and ‘Traps’ in 2013. She believes in writing daily in order to stay connected with the story. She wrote her first book, The Book Worm when she was just six years old. According to her Amazon author bio, the book was later on lost in a flood. She earned her graduate degree from Princeton University with the highest of honor in 1992. She also founded the Bystander Revolution in 2014, which is an anti-bullying organization and she serves as its executive director.

MacKenzie and Jeff Bezos met each at a New York hedge fund, and eventually got married. However, their  26-year-long marriage culminated this year, and the couple released a joint statement to let the world know.

Picture Credit: The New York Times

Read More: Common Perception Around Divorce Settlements Needs To Change