$200b divorce: Jeff Bezos’ marriage ends
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest person, and his wife, MacKenzie, are divorcing after 25 years.
“After a long period of loving exploration and trial separation, we have decided to divorce and continue our shared lives as friends,” according to a tweet on Wednesday that both of them signed. The couple met when they worked at hedge fund D.E. Shaw, and married in 1993. He founded Amazon a year later. Bezos, 54, is worth US$137 billion ($200b), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the world’s 500 wealthiest individuals.
A divorce could reshape the wealth rankings.
If the couple split their fortune equally, it could leave MacKenzie, 48, with US$69b, making her the world’s richest woman. It could also make Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates the planet’s richest person once again.
The state of Washington, where Amazon is based and the couple have a home, is a community property state, which means all property and debt acquired during a marriage “will be divided equitably by the court if the couple cannot negotiate an agreement”, according to the website of McKinley Irvin, a family law firm in the region.
Jennifer Payseno, a partner with McKinley Irvin in Seattle who handles high-net worth divorce cases for the firm, said wealthy couples often agree how to divide their assets before bringing the matter to a judge, and those details are often filed confidentially with the court.
“My guess is they’ve probably already worked up some sort of framework, and that’s why they’re announcing it now,” Payseno said of the couple. “It’s not going to be made public.”
Washington state also mandates a 90-day cooling off period between the day a couple initially files for divorce, and the soonest it can be finalised by a judge. A search of King County public records this week turned up no such filing from Jeff or MacKenzie Bezos.
The couple has lived in Seattle since 1994. They have four children.