Jeff Bezos, 54, has a fortune that has soared as high as $160 billion thanks to his stake in Amazon, which again became Wall Street's most valuable company this week, surpassing Microsoft Corp.
World's richest couple has decided to separate their ways after long 25 years. Amazon.com founder and Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, the world's richest person, and his wife MacKenzie Bezos are divorcing after 25 years of marriage, the couple said on Twitter on Wednesday.
Jeff Bezos, 54, has a fortune that has soared as high as $160 billion thanks to his stake in Amazon, which again became Wall Street's most valuable company this week, surpassing Microsoft Corp.
Bezos has credited MacKenzie, 48, for her support when he uprooted the young couple to Seattle from New York to launch Amazon, an online bookseller that grew into the world's largest internet retailer.
MacKenzie Bezos, a Princeton graduate who is now a novelist, did accounting for Amazon for its first year after it was founded in 1994.
The couple decided to divorce after a long period of "loving exploration" and trial separation, and expect to remain partners in ventures and projects, according to the joint statement. (Images: Reuters)
1. 1. No drama involved
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In a statement Wednesday announcing they were ending their marriage, Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos made clear they were parting amicably. "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."
2. 2. What will happen to Amazon's stock?
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"If she trusts that Jeff Bezos would manage Amazon well, either he should pay her for her share of the stock, or they could enter a more complicated agreement where she keeps stock and he keeps voting rights,” said Liat Sadler, a San Francisco matrimonial lawyer.
3. 3. A beautiful love story
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MacKenzie Bezos met her husband when interviewing for a job at a New York hedge fund, according to a 2013 profile in Vogue.
The two were engaged after three months of dating and married three months after that, according to the magazine. They have four children.
4. 4. Jeff Bezos always acknowledged wife's support
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Speaking at an event in Berlin last April, Jeff Bezos said his wife's support was instrumental when he founded Amazon.
"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," he had then said.
