$140BN DIVORCE
AMAZON BOSS BEZOS FACES MOST EXPENSIVE BREAK-UP EVER
AMAZON founder Jeff Bezos faces the most expensive divorce in history after separating from his wife.
The 54-year-old, who is the world’s richest man – for now – released a joint statement with MacKenzie Bezos yesterday to say they were splitting after 25 years of marriage.
It could see Mr Bezos’s $137billion fortune divided in two, sending him plummeting down the list of billionaires.
The pair said they had reached the decision ‘after a long period of loving exploration and trial separation’ and they intended to remain friends.
But lawyers said any settlement eventually reached by the couple, who have four children together, was still almost certain to become the most expensive ever.
The laws in the couple’s home state of Washington have declared that any wealth created during a marriage can be equally divided between the partners in a divorce.
In a post on Mr Bezos’s Twitter account yesterday, he and his wife said that ‘after a long period of loving exploration and trial separation, we have decided to divorce and continue our shared lives as friends’.
They said that they were ‘deeply grateful for every one of the years we have been married’ and added: ‘If we had known we would separate after 25 years, we would do it all again.’
They ‘see wonderful futures ahead, as parents, friends, partners in ventures and projects, and as individuals pursuing ventures and adventures…we remain a family, and we remain cherished friends.’
Mr Bezos founded Amazon from his garage in 1994, one year after marrying his novelist wife, 48. She could be entitled to a staggering $68billion as well as potentially some of the homes the family have across the US.
The most expensive divorce previously known was that of Alec and Jocelyn Wildenstein in 1999, which saw the French-American businessman pay his former spouse a $2.5billion lump sum and then an extra $100million a year for more than a decade.
Mr Bezos’s wealth is almost entirely dependent on his shares in Amazon, meaning he could have to sell some of the stock or pledge it to his soon-to-be ex-wife as part of a settlement. He is currently Amazon’s biggest shareholder, with 16% or 78.9million shares.
But US divorce lawyer Jeffrey Fisher said it is likely Mrs Bezos would want the family fortune to continue to grow, something that would be under threat if Mr Bezos was forced to reduce his stake in, and therefore control, of Amazon.
Mr Fisher told CNBC: ‘The issue will be how to value the assets with diminished control. There would be an argument by the attorneys that the Amazon stake is not worth as much without Bezos in control, so that would affect any settlement.’
The Bezos properties include two five-bedroom houses and one six-bedroom house in Medina, Washington, worth in total an estimated $65million, near Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle.
Their property includes a $13million four-bedroom home and a $25million seven-bedroom mansion in Beverly Hills, California, and four units in a New York apartment block next to Central Park which cost $13million in total.
The billionaire also owns a former museum in Washington DC, bought for $23million, which was made from two Georgian-style mansions that had previously been connected. The ten-bedroom home features 11 bathrooms and marble floors. Mr Bezos separately owns 300,000 acres in Texas, including ranches and a space port used for his rocket company Blue Origin.
‘Long period of loving exploration’