After divorcing Jeff Bezos, his ex-wife MacKenzie Scott donated $1.7 billion to charity

MacKenzie Scott, formerly MacKenzie Bezos, has already donated nearly $1.7 billion (€1.4 billion) of her fortune to a variety of charities, after pledging last year to give away most of her fortune during her lifetime.

Scott announced Tuesday that she has changed her last name to the middle name she grew up with following her divorce from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos last year. CNN.

Scott took a quarter of Bezos' Amazon stake in the couple's divorce settlement last year, giving her a four percent stake that was worth more than $35 billion at the time. Her net worth is currently estimated to be around $60 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire's Index.

"Like many, I watched the first half of 2020 with a mixture of heart and dread," Scott wrote. "What fills me with hope is the thought of what will come if each of us reflects on what we can offer."

The $1.7 billion donation was spread across 116 organizations focused on one of nine "areas of need," she added, including racial equality, LGBTQ+ equality, functioning democracy and climate change.

Among the organizations she supported are the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Obama Foundation, the George W. Bush Presidential Center, RAINN and the European Climate Foundation.

Scott signed up to the Giving Pledge initiative last year. The initiative, started by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates, encourages the world's richest people to give away a large portion of their wealth to charitable causes, either during their lifetime or in their wills.

Bezos, the world's richest man, has previously been criticized for not contributing more of his wealth to philanthropy, but has donated billions of dollars in recent years to climate change and food organizations. He has not signed the Pledge of Allegiance.

MacKenzie Scott's announcement comes a day before Bezos is set to testify before Congress along with the CEOs of Facebook ( FB ), Google ( GOOGL ) and Apple ( AAPL ) to address claims that their companies are too dominant or have harm competition. /Telegraph/