Ripples from Bezos split could rewrite rich lists
● The wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos could become the world’s richest woman if his fortune is split equally during their divorce proceedings.
Bezos, 54, and MacKenzie, 48, announced on Wednesday that, following a trial separation, they had decided to end their marriage of 25 years.
Their divorce settlement may reshape global wealth rankings.
Having started Amazon from his garage in Seattle, Bezos went on to become the richest man on the planet, with an estimated fortune of $137bn (R1.9-trillion).
As well as his shareholding in Amazon, Bezos owns The Washington Post newspaper as well as a string of other investments including a Gulfstream jet and homes in Seattle, Washington, Beverly Hills and New York.
If the couple file for divorce in Washington, the state where they were married and Amazon has its headquarters, half of Bezos’s wealth could go to his wife under the state’s community property law, unless there is a prenuptial agreement in place.
If they split their fortune equally, it could leave MacKenzie with around $69bn, making her the world’s richest woman. It could also reinstate Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, as the world’s richest person.
In a statement, the couple, who have four children, said: “As our family and close friends know, after a long period of loving exploration and trial separation, we have decided to divorce and continue our shared lives as friends. We feel incredibly lucky to have found each other and deeply grateful for the years we have been married to each other. If we had known we would separate after 25 years, we would do it all again.”
In an interview with Wired in 1999, Bezos described his search for his ideal mate. Calling himself a “professional dater”, he had devised a system to filter potential partners.
“The No 1 criterion was that I wanted a woman who could get me out of a Third World prison,” he told the website. “What I really wanted was someone resourceful. But nobody knows what you mean when you say: ‘I’m looking for a resourceful woman.’”
As it happened, Bezos fell in love with a member of his own staff at a New York hedge fund. They were married in 1993, six months after they began working together, and a year before he started Amazon.
MacKenzie, an award-winning novelist (The Testing of Luther Albright and Traps) was one of Amazon’s earliest employees and became an accountant for it.
The news of their divorce emerged two days after Amazon became the world’s most valuable company, overtaking Microsoft.
Divorce attorney David Starks said if the couple did not come to their own agreement, a judge would probably divide their assets equally.