COUPLE SPLIT AFTER 27 YEARS TOGETHER
AMAZON boss Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie are getting divorced following a long period of “loving exploration”.
Bezos, worth $140billion (£109bn), announced the split with the cryptic comment on Twitter after more than 25 years of marriage.
And they are now set for the world’s most expensive ever divorce proceedings.
The couple, who met in 1992 and married in 1993, have four children – three sons and an adopted daughter.
In a joint statement the couple said: “We want to make people aware of a development in our lives. 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 every one of 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.
“We’ve had such a great life together as a married couple, and we also see wonderful futures ahead, and projects, and as individuals pursuing ventures and adventures.” The pair met when Jeff interviewed MacKenzie at investment management firm DE Shaw when he was company vice president.
He went on to found Amazon from a garage in Seattle two years later.
At a Business Insider event in Berlin last April, he said his wife’s support was instrumental in its founding as an online bookseller in 1994.
He added: “When you have loving and supportive people in your life, like MacKenzie, my parents, my grandfather, my grandmother, you end up being able to take risks.”
Last year, the couple launched the Bezos Day One Fund, offering £1.5billion to help the homeless and set up schools.