Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos have finalized their divorce.
The Amazon CEO will receive 75 percent of the couple’s Amazon shares and retain voting authority for remaining shares owned by MacKenzie Bezos. He’ll also maintain full ownership of The Washington Post and Blue Origin. He remains the largest Amazon shareholder.
MacKenzie Bezos announced the news via her new Twitter account. Amazon also posted a new SEC filing Thursday morning outlining terms of their Amazon shares; MacKenzie Bezos will receive 4 percent of Amazon’s stock, which is worth about $35 billion, making her among the world’s richest women. A divorce decree is expected to be issued within 90 days.
— MacKenzie Bezos (@mackenziebezos) April 4, 2019
Jeff Bezos announced in January that the couple would split after 25 years of marriage. He also sent out a tweet Thursday morning.
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) April 4, 2019
Bezos had a net worth of about $149 billion as of Tuesday, according to Forbes, before Thursday’s divorce-related announcement.
After the January announcement, Bezos has been embroiled in controversy related to his relationship with Lauren Sanchez, a former TV anchor turned helicopter pilot, and The National Enquirer, which published text messages sent between Bezos and Sanchez.
A novelist, MacKenzie Bezos was a key figure in the early days of Amazon after she and Jeff Bezos moved to the Seattle region. They have four children, ranging approximately in age from early to late teens. The couple met when they worked together at hedge fund D.E. Shaw in New York.
MacKenzie Bezos has also been involved in their shared philanthropic initiatives, including scholarships for immigrant children and the new $2 billion Day One Fund. This week, along with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, they both announced their support for Diagnostics Accelerator, a fund that supports researchers looking for earlier ways to detect, and eventually prevent, Alzheimer’s.
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