Jeff Bezos divorce settlement makes his wife the third richest woman in the world
On Thursday, Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos announced his divorce settlement which can be called as the biggest divorce settlement in history. The settlement came three months after Jeff Bezos (55) and his wife MacKenzie Tuttle (48) made public the news of their split up.
As per the divorce terms, MacKenzie Bezos would keep 25 percent of the couple’s Amazon stock, which would give her a 4% stake in the company. It would amount to nearly $36 billion, as per Amazon’s current share price. The settlement left Jeff Bezos with75 percent of their stock and the voting control over Ms. Bezos’s remaining shares. Mr. Bezos is also said to maintain all his interests in the Washington Post and Blue Origin, a space travel company, whereas Ms. Bezos would give up her stake in the two companies to her husband. The court approval of the couple’s divorce decree is still pending.
According to Forbes magazine, the divorce settlement makes MacKenzie Bezos, a novelist, the third wealthiest woman in the world after L’Oreal heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers and Walmart’s Alice Walton.
Even after the settlement, Jeff Bezos remains the world’s richest man. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Mr. Bezos’s current net worth is estimated to be $114 billion.
On Thursday evening, MacKenzie Bezos wrote on Twitter, “Happy to be giving him all of my interests in the Washington Post and Blue Origin, and 75% of our Amazon stock plus voting control of my shares to support his continued contributions with the teams of these incredible companies.”
Jeff Bezos also called his wife an extraordinary partner on Twitter and expressed thankfulness for her support. He wrote that he was “grateful for her support and for her kindness in this process.”
The couple who is ending 25 years of their marriage knew each other before the fame and wealth came in. They met each other in 1992 in New York when he was a hedge fund manager on Wall Street. He interviewed her for a job at his firm. They got married less than a year later in 1993. They have four children.
Jeff Bezos, who has kept his personal life private for all these years while running Amazon, until the National Enquirer revealed that he had been having an affair with a former news anchor, Lauren Sanchez. The National Enquirer, owned by the US President Donald Trump’s ally David Pecker, threaten to publish the details, including private messages, of an extramarital affair with Ms. Sánchez. Mr. Bezos publically accused the tabloid magazine of blackmail. The publisher denies the claim.
