Jeff Bezos announces he and his wife are divorcing
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced Wednesday morning that he and his wife MacKenzie Bezos are divorcing. Jeff Bezos made the announcement in a tweet.
"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," the couple said in a statement posted to Bezos' Twitter account. "If we had known we would separate after 25 years, we would do it all again."
According to the statement, the couple went through a "long period of loving exploration and trial separation" before deciding to divorce. "Though the labels might be different, we remain a family, and we remain cherished friends," the statement said.
Jeff Bezos' net worth
In October, the Amazon chief and founder was named the wealthiest person on the planet. Forbes estimated his net worth was $160 billion and had increased by more than $75 billion from 2017.
In addition to running Amazon, Bezos owns the Washington Post and space company Blue Origin. If MacKenzie Bezos were to receive a quarter of her husband's estimated fortune in the divorce — $40 billion — she would be among the world's richest women.
Last March, Forbes named Alice Walton, daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton, the richest woman on the planet with an estimated fortune of $46 billion. Walton was followed by Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, daughter of L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, who died in 2017, with an estimated net worth of $42.2 billion.
In 2013, MacKenzie Bezos appeared on PBS and spoke about how Amazon started out as an online bookstore. "You know, I'm not a businessperson, so, to me, what I'm hearing when he tells that idea is the passion and the excitement," she said. "And, to me, you know, watching your spouse, somebody that you love, have an adventure, what is better than that and being part of that?"
