Jeff Bezos Ex-Wife MecKenzie Becomes 4th Richest Woman After Divorce Settlement

MacKenzie Bezos, who is now officially divorced from Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos, has graciously granted her billionaire ex-husband 75 percent of their Amazon stock (along with voting control), but will still become the world’s fourth richest woman.

The former Mrs. Bezos made the revelation about their divorce in a tweet saying she and Jeff have completed the process of dissolving their marriage of 25 years. MacKenzie said she’s “happy” to have done so. She also relinquished to Jeff all of her interests in The Washington Post and the Blue Origin spaceflight and space tourism company.

MacKenzie is an accomplished writer, publishing her debut novel, "The Testing of Luther Albright," in 2005. The book later won an American Book Award.

It was Jeff who announced the couple’s pending divorce on Twitter three months ago after a trial separation, noting that they would “continue [their] shared lives as friends.”

The divorce left MacKenzie with $35.6 billion in Amazon stock compared to Jeff’s $107.4 billion. The settlement makes MacKenzie the fourth-richest woman in the world behind Francoise Bettencourt Meyers of L’Oreal, Alice Walton of Walmart and Jacqueline Mars of Mars Inc.

According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), MacKenzie will retain shares representing about 4 percent of Amazon’s outstanding common stock. Her holdings will make her the third-biggest Amazon shareholder behind her ex-husband and Warren Buffet’s Vanguard Funds.

Amazon stock is presently trading at $1,813.02, making the ex-couple’s combined stock worth $143 billion. Jeff remains the richest person in the world despite losing $35.6 billion in Amazon stock to his ex-wife.

“I’m grateful for her support and for her kindness in this process and am very much looking forward to our new relationship as friends and co-parents,” tweeted Jeff.

Amazon’s stock slipped about 0.4% Thursday afternoon on news of the settlement.

Amazon would not have been as successful as it is without the key contributions of MacKenzie. It’s a well-known fact MacKenzie drove the pair from New York to Seattle while Jeff wrote Amazon’s business plan. MacKenzie also negotiated Amazon’s first freight contracts.