Jeff Bezos’ wife could become a billionaire in divorce settlement

MacKenzie Bezos could become the fifth-richest person in the world by virtue of her divorce settlement in the event she receives half of her husband, Jeff Bezos’s, assets.

On Wednesday, the pair announced they would be separating after 25 years of marriage and have not provided reasons for their divorce.

pic.twitter.com/Gb10BDb0x0

— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) January 9, 2019

According to Forbes Africa, she would be worth more than $68 billion if she received half of Jeff’s estimated $136.2 billion net worth. Even a 1% payout would constitute one of the largest divorce settlements in history as Jeff is the richest person in the world.

The couple lives in the American state of Washington where state law dictates that divorcing spouses equitably divide assets in “community property,” including all income generated during a marriage.

Forbes Africa reports it is not yet clear how the divorce will impact his net worth, or whether it will affect his stake in Amazon, the e-commerce giant he founded in 1994. The 54-year-old owns roughly 16% of the business in addition to owning the Washington Post and rocket company Blue Origin.

Even if MacKenzie were awarded half of his Amazon stake, Jeff has the option to pay her the monetary equivalent of what the shares are worth.

The pair both attended Princeton but only met after graduation while working at investment firm D.E. Shaw. They married in 1993 and moved to Seattle in 1994. They have four children together.

MacKenzie majored in creative writing while at Princeton and later went to serve as a research assistant to Toni Morrison.

Her first novel, The Testing of Luther Albright published in 2005, has also won an award.

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