Jeff Bezos to keep 75% of couple’s Amazon stock after finalizing divorce

Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Bezos have officially called it quits
after 25 years of marriage.

The two announced they’d finalized their divorce in a
coordinated series of messages, published on Twitter almost
simultaneously Thursday. In addition to extolling one another’s
virtues and pledging to move forward as “co-parents” and “friends,”
MacKenzie revealed the division of the couple’s substantial
assets.

Jeff, founder of Amazon and the world’s richest person, will
walk away with 75 percent of the couple’s stock in the company,
including all voting control that ownership of the shares confers.
Prior to their separation, Jeff owned 16 percent of the company, an
amount worth upwards of $130 billion.

Given the couple’s reported lack of a prenuptial agreement and
residence in Washington state, MacKenzie could theoretically have
laid claim to much more.

In addition to the stock, MacKenzie, a novelist and founder of
an anti-bullying organization, said Thursday she’s also
relinquishing her interests in The Washington Post and the
aerospace company Blue Origin:

pic.twitter.com/OJWn3OOLS6^[1]

— MacKenzie Bezos (@mackenziebezos) April 4,
2019^[2]

pic.twitter.com/oFGWPkK3dB^[3]

— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) April 4,
2019^[4]

The couple announced their split in January, just before the
National Enquirer published a story about Jeff Bezos’ relationship
with former Fox TV personality Laura Sanchez.

President Donald Trump latched onto the story to gloat ― and to
express hope that the divorce would cause The Washington Post to
“be placed in better & more responsible hands!”