Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife MacKenzie Scott becomes the world’s richest woman after Amazon shares surged

Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife MacKenzie Scott has become the world’s richest woman after Amazon shares surged amid coronavirus lockdowns.

Scott, who owns a 4 percent stake in the ecommerce giant, has added another $30.3 billion to her bank balance in the last year, taking her net worth to a staggering $67.4 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index. 

The boost comes after Amazon stocks skyrocketed off the back of the pandemic, as stay-at-home orders and shuttered businesses sent consumers flocking to the retail giant for online orders and home deliveries.  

Shares have risen from nearly $2,000 to $3,500 since the start of 2020 alone.  

The rich have been getting richer with US billionaire wealth increasing by $800 billion since the pandemic began, while everyday Americans find themselves on the breadline with millions braced with job losses. 

The boost to Scott’s wealth has made the philanthropist and novelist the wealthiest woman in the world and the 12th richest person in the world.  

As part of ‘The Giving Pledge’ – a commitment among some of the nation’s richest to donate the majority of their wealth – Scott has given $1.7 billion away to nonprofit organizations.  

Scott’s new-found position at the top spot comes after her mammoth divorce settlement from Amazon founder Bezos last July. 

The former spouses reached a settlement, granting MacKenzie around 19.7 million Amazon.com shares, giving her a four percent stake in the company.  

The agreement made the novelist the 22nd richest person in the world and third richest woman in the world at the time. 

The couple had announced in January 2019 they were divorcing after 25 years of marriage and four children after the National Enquirer revealed the tech entrepreneur had been having an affair with former news anchor Lauren Sanchez. 

Scott’s ex-husband continues to be the richest person in the world with a net worth of $205 billion, holding his position as number one on Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Bill Gates is second with $126 billion to his name, followed by Mark Zuckerberg at $112 billion and Elon Musk at $110 billion.  

Tesla CEO Musk briefly overtook Zuckerberg Monday when his net worth ballooned to $115.4 billion when Tesla’s stock split sent shares surging as much as 12 percent.

Shares in the auto giant have surged by around 500 percent this year, as investors bet on Musk dominating the electric car market, and Musk’s personal wealth has tripled since the pandemic started ravaging America back in March. 

The controversial CEO is gearing up for yet another boost as his board will give him another $50 billion if he meets certain performance goals. 

This comes despite Musk’s insistence he is not interested in amassing a large personal fortune. 

In May, he claimed he wanted to sell ‘almost all’ of his belongings and ‘own no house.’ 

America’s richest men and women have fared well amid the pandemic, with stark the combined US billionaire wealth increasing by nearly $800 billion, or over 25 percent, since March, according to Americans for Tax Fairness. 

While the rich get richer, millions of Americans have been thrown out of work and left struggling to survive. 

Widespread business closures, mass layoffs and furloughs and companies falling into disrepair have forced more Americans onto the streets.

Homeless encampments have been springing up in major cities and food banks are swamped by hungry citizens unable to afford to feed their families. 

The Federal Reserve estimated net household worth fell by a record 5.6 percent in the first three months of the year – marking the biggest decline since the 1950s.  

Despite much of the economy now reopening, another one million Americans filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week, as government financial aid dries up.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits totaled a seasonally adjusted 1.006 million for the week ended August 22, compared to 1.104 million in the prior week, the Labor Department said on Thursday. 

The reopening of businesses in May helped to pull down claims from a record 6.867 million in March, but the figures continue to dwarf figures before the pandemic, which had never topped 700,000 in a week.