Elon Musk has gone after Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife MacKenzie Scott, who has become one of the world’s leading liberal philanthropists since her divorce.
The Tesla boss viewed Scott’s massive charitable donations to left-wing nonprofits as “concerning” in a post he shared on X on Tuesday.
Musk responded to a post explaining how Scott gave away $2 billion in 2024.to groups with missions such as “Empowering Latinx Immigrants,” “Deportation Defense,” and “Justice and Equality for LGBTQ Immigrants.”
Scott acknowledged in a blog post on Wednesday another $2 billion in donations in 2023, bringing the total she has given away since 2019 to $19.2 billion.
She does not comment on her donations, aside from the rare post on her website, and has shaken up the nonprofit sector with her embrace of “trust-based philanthropy,” providing large, no-obligation grants to more than 2,450 nonprofits .
Scott has previously written that she does not respond to press inquiries, in an effort not to overshadow the work of the organizations she donates to.
After her divorce from Bezos after 25 years of marriage, Scott became one of the richest women in the world, with a 4 percent stake in Amazon.
Musk previously said that Scott and other ex-wives of billionaires are destroying Western civilization.
Through her philanthropic company Yield Giving, Scott allocated the funds to nonprofits that responded to an open call for applications
The Tesla boss viewed Scott’s massive charitable donations as “concerning” in a post he shared on X on Tuesday
In a now-deleted post on
Scott revealed new information in her latest blog post about how she managed her wealth, saying she instructed advisors to invest her money in “mission-aligned ventures.” She said most of the grants she awarded in 2024 went toward strengthening economic security and opportunity.
“I have asked the investment team that helps me manage the assets I am giving away to find funds and companies focused on for-profit solutions to these challenges,” Scott wrote.
That’s in contrast to “withdrawing money from a bank account, or from a stock portfolio, increasing the wealth and influence of leaders who already have it.”
In 2024, she also gave repeatedly to various organizations – something of a new development in her giving, which has set the bar high for how much and how quickly megadonors can give. Two organizations, CAMFED, which supports girls’ education in Africa, and Undue Medical Debt, formerly called RIP Medical Debt, each received a third donation from Scott this year.
Most of Scott’s wealth comes from Amazon stock she received when she divorced the company’s founder, Jeff Bezos. Forbes estimates her current net worth at $31.7 billion, even after giving her money away for five years.
Scott became the third richest woman in the world and one of the 50 richest people on earth when she divorced Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in 2019.
The divorce settlement left Scott with $35.6 billion in Amazon stock. Scott has since joined The Giving Pledge, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet’s campaign to encourage extremely wealthy people to donate a majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes.
Following her divorce from Bezos after 25 years of marriage, Scott became one of the richest women in the world, with a 4 percent stake in Amazon
Her donation includes donating her $55 million Beverly Hills estate to a charity that will use much of the proceeds to house the homeless and go toward an immigrant integration program.
Scott has given the majority of her donations to liberal causes, including $122 million in funds supporting immigrants.
The Florida Immigrant Coalition, Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition and Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project are just some of the groups receiving Scott’s largesse.
Another $117 million was given to at least 67 so-called “prisoner advocacy groups.”
The Innocence Project, Art For Justice Fund, Anti-Recidivism Coalition and North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services all received a check as part of the pledge.
Perhaps most controversially, $18 million of the $72 million earmarked for LGBTQ causes will go to funds that help transgender athletes amid a culture war over keeping sports open to biological women.
Initially, Scott announced the gifts in online blog posts, sometimes naming the organizations and sometimes not. In December 2022, she launched a database of her donations, called Yield Giving.
In an essay, she wrote, “Information from other people—other givers, my team, the nonprofit teams I’ve given to—has been tremendously helpful to me. If more information about these gifts could be helpful to anyone, I would be happy to share it.”
Forbes estimates her current net worth at $31.7 billion, even after giving her money away for five years
Since her divorce from Bezos, she has spent much of her time and energy identifying the most valuable and effective charities to which she can donate her money.
This includes donating her $55 million Beverly Hills estate to charity which will use much of the proceeds to house the homeless and go toward an immigrant integration program.
Meanwhile, Bezos announced in November 2023 that he will donate $118 million to nonprofits supporting families experiencing homelessness.