[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] Melinda French Gates, ex-wife of Microsoft (MS) founder Bill Gates, and MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, have joined forces for gender equality.
On the 29th (local time), US economic media CNBC reported that Gates and Scott have each pledged $10 million, totaling $40 million (approximately 45.8 billion KRW), to four organizations working toward gender equality.
The donations will be awarded to the winners of a gender equality project hosted by French Gates' investment firm Pivotal Ventures. Scott participated in this project along with her remarried husband Dan Jewett and billionaire philanthropist Lynn Schusterman.
Additionally, a total of $8 million (about 9.2 billion KRW) will be provided to two individuals working on issues related to domestic violence and education to enhance young women's political empowerment.
French Gates stated in a press release, "We can break the patterns of history and promote gender equality," adding, "We must support organizations like those selected this time that are ready to lift women up." Scott praised the selected organizations as "strong teams striving to help women gain power in life and careers."
Scott became a global billionaire overnight after divorcing Bezos in 2019 after 25 years of marriage, receiving about 4% of Amazon's stock as part of the property division. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Scott's net worth is approximately $64.1 billion.
In June, she announced donations of $2.7 billion to hundreds of organizations to prevent racism and domestic violence, and in December last year, she pledged $4.2 billion to hundreds of organizations.
French Gates, who announced her divorce from Bill Gates in May this year, has a net worth of about $3.3 billion according to Forbes. Gates has also actively engaged in philanthropy, publicly committing $1 billion through his investment firm Pivotal Ventures in 2019 to support gender equality.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
