Jeff Bezos one of the most expensive divorces in history

July 7, 2019

The founder and executive director of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, and MacKenzie Bezos finalized their divorce last Thursday, in the order of 38 billion dollars, according to Bloomberg News.

Under the agreement, MacKenzie Bezos, 49 years old, will receive approximately 19.7 billion in Amazon.com shares, that is a 4% stake in the company valued at 38 billion, which places her in the 22nd position in the Bloomberg billionaires ranking, announced the same source.

A judge in King County in the state of Washington, in the northwestern United States finalized the divorce. Jeff Bezos, 55 years old, will maintain 12% stake and will continue as the richest person in the world.

Bezos and MacKenzie started Amazon together as an online book sales company from their garage in New York (Reuters)

MacKenzie Bezos, a novelist, has said that she plans to leave all her stake in The Washington Post and in the space exploration company Blue Origin to her husband, as well as the voting rights associated with her remaining stake in Amazon.

She has also pledged to donate half of her fortune to Giving Pledge, a charitable organization that brings together the richest contributors in the world, including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.

The personal life of Jeff Bezos came into view with the announcement in January of his divorce from his wife of more than 25 years and the revelation by the tabloid weekly National Enquirer that he would have had a relationship with former news presenter Lauren Sanchez.

Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos were married in 1993 and have four children. Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in his garage in Seattle in 1994 and turned it into a colossus that dominates the world of online commerce.