Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest person, announces divorce from wife MacKenzie
- Jeff Bezos, worth US$137 billion, announced the split from his wife of 25 years on Twitter in a joint statement with her
- MacKenzie Bezos was one of Amazon’s first employees, doing its accounting in its first year of operation in 1994
Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, are divorcing, ending a 25-year marriage that played a role in the creation of an e-commerce company that made Bezos one of the world’s wealthiest people.
The decision to divorce comes after a trial separation, according to a statement posted Wednesday on Jeff Bezos’ Twitter account.
He and his wife both signed the announcement, which ended with a vow to remain “cherished friends”.
While Wall Street took the announcement in stride, investors will be watching to see if the divorce settlement affects Bezos’s control of Amazon.
So long as the company is growing and returning profits, he’ll probably maintain their confidence, though a settlement could potentially put a dent in such Bezos side projects as the space exploration company Blue Origin.
The announcement came hours before the National Enquirer tabloid newspaper began tweeting that it planned to publish an expose about the split.