One part of the Jeff Bezos saga is done now. Last year, Bezos began cheating on his wife, Mackenzie Bezos, with Lauren Sanchez. The affair ended up destroying his marriage in a million different ways. For one, Lauren Sanchez’s shady AF brother sold them out to the National Enquirer, and the Enquirer was about to release the news of the Bezos-Sanchez affair when Jeff announced his split from his wife. Incidentally, Bezos’ investigator Gavin de Becker said that for sure, Lauren’s brother sold some of their texts to the Enquirer, but the Saudis were also involved in some hacking of Jeff’s emails and more. Anyway, Mackenzie kept her mouth shut throughout all of her estranged husband’s mess. Now their divorce is complete, and… she’s getting a lot of money, hopefully?
Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Bezos are a done deal … officially — and it sounds like she’s walking away with a huge chunk of change, while he’s getting the lion’s share of their companies. Mackenzie says she’s “finished the process of dissolving my marriage with Jeff,” and says she’s given him all of her interests in the Washington Post and 75% of their Amazon stock. She’s also surrendered her interest in Blue Origin … the aerospace company Jeff started in 2000.
To be clear … she’s not giving him all of that. No doubt, Jeff’s paying out a nice chunk of what was their $149 billion net worth. BTW, that number was $137 billion when they announced the split … so, it’s been a good year for Bezos. Financially. The former couple got hitched back in 1993 — 6 months after they met, and way before he became the world’s richest man — and they have 4 children together ranging in age from 13 to 18.
The division of their assets could’ve been complicated by how much they have — besides cold hard cash, they are straight-up baronial. They own 400,000 acres of property and are 2 of the biggest landholders in the country.
I feel like watching Billions has made me smarter about how billionaires operate. Surely ALL billionaires make split-second gut-level decisions about tiny margins which will yield them hundreds of millions of dollars, right? No, my point is that Mackenzie seemed to coldly analyze their net worth and assorted businesses and she made a series of strategic decisions, that she didn’t need a sh-tload of stock options when her ex could simply buy her out, then she could make her own decisions about where and how to invest. Mackenzie could probably start her own hedge fund. It could be a Billions spinoff. How much would it take for you to leave 75% of your Amazon stock to your cheating husband? The number definitely involves nine zeros. Perhaps ten zeros.
— MacKenzie Bezos (@mackenziebezos) April 4, 2019
Photos courtesy of WENN.
If Bezos would get off his mistress and back on his business then maybe my Prime orders would get filled and delivered on time.
I live on a small island in Canada and its winter here like 75 percent of the year and I have no problems getting my orders on time
Newfoundlander?
PEI?? NFLD isnt’ tiny
Newfoundland. It’s small compared to a lot of places elsewhere. My point is that I’m on an island and the weather is almost always brutal in the winter, I never have any trouble getting my packages
I’m a Newfoundlander as well 🙂 and yes, I agree with your above statement.
Ooh, can you tell me something? How do you prounounce Newfoundland? My sister has a Newfoundland puppy and here in Australia we say it “new-found-land” but a Pom was laughing at us saying it’s “new-fund-lund”. Which way do you pronounce it?
@ SK : I am Canadian and lived in Nova Scotia, near Newfoundland. And there we said it “new-fund-land”. You can also sound local and call it “The Rock”. And people who move there from somewhere else are called “come-from-aways”. Newfie english lesson over!
My friends have always told me that the cadence is similar to “understand”: UnderSTAND, NewfoundLAND.
Have you not seen the terrifying alien invasion video of the (for now computer-generated) massive Amazon delivery airship that releases dozens of little drones from it’s underbelly?
They’re on it!
I saw that, but it was just some guy having fun, nothing official afaik.
same. i’m so sick of amazon. they’re shitting the bed on nearly every delivery for the last 3 months. i stopped using it subscribe and save completely because it hasn’t replenished on time in months and i end up having to go to the store and buy it elsewhere anyways.
I’ve been having the same issue with my subscribe and saves. Mine are all diapers and wipes for the most part but there have been issues the last 6 months that I never had before and we’ve been using it for at least 4 years. I actually just got an email last night that one of my subscriptions was cancelled and converted to another product because it was no longer available on subscribe and save after 4 years! There have been others that they have emailed me saying they can’t be fulfilled so I end up having to go to the store anyway.
Man. I don’t have prime. But my regular orders manage to get to a rural part of Nova Scotia a day early pretty much 99% of the time. If they’re not getting their on time, I’d say Prime isn’t worth it. My dad has it, and he said it can be the next day a lot of the time based on the time of the trucks and the weather.
People who only have been Prime members , for say, the last 8 – 10 years have no idea how great Prime used to be. There were no add ons, so that if kids’ scissors were on sale for $0.35, you could buy 5 of them and they would ship it right away. There was no minimum amount that needed to be spent. IIRC, it changed to a $25 minimum, and then they started with the “add on item” nonsense. There was also no Subscribe and Save monthly date. When you ordered any item regularly, it would ship ASAP at the S&S price. Plus, I didn’t pay for Prime for years and years because I got it for free for ordering a minimum amount of diapers and other baby stuff. I think it was called Baby Prime or something like that. When my kids outgrew Pull ups, my sister and I would split a membership and all of our info was private. Now in order to share a membership, you need to be in the same home and share credit cards. Prime sucks compared to the good old days. And dont even get me started on having to pay tax. I know that’s not Bezos fault, but it still hurts.
She gets rid of cheating wonky eye & 38 BILLION. She is the winner
I’ve been a prime member for a long time. Always received my orders on time, but lately I haven’t. There’s definitely a change, the service is not the same as it used to be.
I’m sure she has loads of money and will be well taken care of. The divorce seems amicable. She seems like a nice lady who isn’t greedy. Nice change from the usual rich divorce stories
I’m sure a lot of his money and stocks will go into trusts for their kids, like Rupert Murdocj had to do with first wife.
This! I bet she “traded” some of her fair share to ensure trusts existed for each of her kids. No way is she going to let future offspring split an estate with her kids.
I’m not even rich and I would do the same for my kids.
.
This is exactly what I suspected. She probably agreed to less if it meant more money for her children down the line. MacKenzie isn’t stupid, and I doubt she played super nice lady and gave up her rights to billions of dollars without assurances that it would go to whatever causes she wanted when he died (kids, a foundation, whatever).
She does seem remarkably “normal” for someone in the billionaire club. It’s very refreshing.
My mind is still struggling to compute what 400,000 acres of real estate looks like.
You got me curious! It’s a little less than half the size of Rhode Island (which is actually 988k acres.
Wow, that’s obscene in any circumstance but especially in a country founded on stolen land.
From my understanding she got $36 Billion, most in Amazon stock. She could have gotten more if split 50/50 another $36 Billion, but when you are talking about B and not M illions does it really matter? I’m with her end it quickly, move on with your Billions and live your best life. To get the 50/50 split she would have had to at a minimum take a while and hash it out. Even if you aren’t arguing over the split, it becomes control of the company, as the top stockholder is still Jeff Bezos, but she is third after the Vanguard group. She also gave up some management votes with Amazon. So I think that was the main issue, and since she started Amazon with him I’m sure she wanted and trusted him to be in control of it. Also, as said above, she can now go and make more billions, not attached to Jeff, if that is what she wants. Even with 4 kids it’s kind of nice to see an amicable split.
That’s what I think too. If I could walk away quickly and happily, and with $36 billion? Hell yes. That’s more than I could spend in my lifetime, and she’ll be able to invest and make a ton more, so it’s just incomprehensible money at that point.
Hope they are both philanthropic and put some of it to good use. A lot of it.
I am happy they found an amicable way to settle this. Money certainly can buy happiness.
I don’t think she lost out at all, he must have paid her a huge pile of cash, land and real estate to sweeten the pot.
Is he still dating Chacha Degregorio w the brother from the T-Birds?
Perfect comment! Thank you for making me laugh 🙂
that’s an obscene amount of wealth. how much friggin money do these people need. meanwhile, amazon workers are beyond stressed just trying to make ends meet.
It’s estimated that her networth will be upwards of $38 Billion. Mackenzie is alright. She most likely, wants NOTHING to do with that man except when it comes to their children. She is an accomplished writer and maybe smarter than him. She’s fine.
She deserves half of it all ,she was with him before everything and helped him put it together but yes, she seems nice and probably just wants to forget about him.
She could also be getting liquid cash. We’re only discussing her interests in his businesses because whether or not Bezos have to give up a lot of shares in his divorce has larger implications as for his control over Amazon. We don’t know what lump sum in cash or properties he may have had to give her.
His stupidity cost him 38 Billions lol
This isn’t exactly true. She started Amazon with him and for years played an active role in it. Sorry it didn’t cost him anything. He wouldn’t have had it if not for her.
True.
Well, the only thing I really think when I read these figures, is that we can consider ourselves lucky Bezos is not outright evil. After all, Rupert Murdoch used his fortune to destroy democracies.
But we shouldn’t have to count on someone not being outright evil. No one person should have this much money. I personally believe it is clear and present danger to democracy when they do. I am not a socialist. Neither were our founders and they recognized this.
Couldn’t agree more about how no one person should have that much money. Even if the person made it fair and square and legally there’s a point at which society’s needs as a whole should take precedence and a large chunk of that money needs to be taxed for the greater good.
25% of their amazon stock is worth something like $40 billion dollars. She gave up a lot but she probably figured she still walked away with more money that she or 10 generations after her will ever spend so I’m sure she’s fine.
She got to divorce the monopoly guy she’s thrilled trust me
My guess is she took a reduced % amount in return for guaranteed amounts / trust funds / company shares being allocated to their kids together (which adds up to a 50/50 split) so when/if he marries the mistress, the kids future are secure and protected financially and can’t be impacted by anyone who comes into the family unit. That way no joint accounts or future divorce settlements could impact on the kid’s financial well-being (as much as super rich people would be impacted) or possible inheritance.
Admittedly, the amount she got is more than anyone could spend but considering how public his affair was, she had all the leverage in the settlement so there must be something else for her not to demand 50%. Maybe they don’t want the kids to be targets if announced?
I think you’re right. I can’t see Mackenzie not being strategic with her kids future and how any new kids would impact their inheritance.
I spent an afternoon with Bezos once around 2000, he’s a very weird guy, with a creepy af laugh that was aggressive and loud but with no mirth at all. She may be happy to move on…
She gave up a lot? What the hell does one do with one billion dollars in one lifetime? Let alone more than that, it’s gross. Fighting things out in court is even grosser. We need to change our outlook on things.
I’m really sad she didn’t get more. Considering he cheated, she could have had a stronger case and took him to the cleaners.
Re: Amazon, haven’t used them since 2013. In Paris it’s almost impossible for me to find much of anything on there (you can’t use the site in English from what I can tell). Plus their stupid website will only load one page, if you press next page or 2, it takes you back to the home screen. You want to find a world without Amazon? Move to France.
We all KNOW that time in a split up when all that’s required is FREEDOM. That’s when I’ve thrown away diamonds & businesses. I’m a product to the drop in & drop out generation, so I hold on to NOTHING. In the end Peace and Grit are worth more than $$
Good for her but am sure she’s getting a lot to give all that up.
At some point Bezos is going to realise that the cheap plastic down grade was in it with her brother. Given how quickly he divorced his wife, I wonder how long it will be before he marries Sanchez, she’s in this for the money.
If all this mess was private maybe she could play the card that is was just her marriage ending by a cheating ass. Now with all this mess on the spotlight I really hope she took him to the cleaners.
Get it Mackenzie!!! She could run a hedge fund AND become a major philanthropist.like Bill and Melinda Gates. Wouldn’t be surprised to see this.
Their wealth is so massive that even 10 billion more or less don’t make any real difference. It is better for both of them to agree to an amicable split rather than drag this out in court indefinitely.
Nahh, I don’t think she gave up much. She likely got cash in exchange for the stock she gave up, because controlling the company was super important to him and his stockholders (which is why he also got voting control of her remaining shares). Being intimately involved with Amazon going forward probably just wasn’t of interest to her. She’s now estimated to be worth like 35 billion, plus she’s still the third largest shareholder at Amazon. Sis is gonna be alright LOL.
Reading the comments around this story reminds me of a lecture I attended in college where a venture capitalist said the difference between people who make billions of dollars and people who don’t is an understanding that one more dollar is always one more dollar whether it is your one hundredth or your millionth. I imagine Jeff fought his wife as hard as he does any employee. I think his wife deserved what she earned, not just what meets her needs.
Her statement is pure class.
Mackenzie will be just fine. She has class and dignity unlike her ex.
Thank you so much for not saying “he had to give her”…I am so sick of that kind of sexist characterization. It makes steam come out of my ears. That said, MacKenzie seems like an amazing woman. Obviously smart, clearly fit. God knows why Jeff would want to leave her for that mess of a woman and her horrid, money grubbing family. How can you trust people like that? Too late now. He made his bed. MacKenzie will have an amazing life and Jeff will continue to run after over botox’d Real Housewives. Mackenzie wins, hands down.
So Jeff Bezos went from a woman he built his empire with, whom he could trust WITHOUT a prenup, to another woman who habitually over-Botoxes and overfills her face, and who gives unfettered access of her cellphone to her shady AF brother.
My takeaway is that Jeff Bezos is the biggest loser in all of this, and that is of his own design.
All I got when I got divorced was credit card debt and lawyers bills. I think she did ok.
She’s gonna be just fine. This settlement makes her the fourth richest woman in the WORLD.
I say, you GO MacKenzie!
Smart move. Since their wealth is Amazon stock – which has always traded on his media reputation as a genius and expectations of future domination rather that actual income – it was most important to preserve the value of that stock. He needed to come out of this embarrassing situation looking like a strong winner rather than Carlos Danger II.
He’s such a fool for divorcing Mackenzie. I hope he gets what he deserves… Lauren Sanchez – KARMA
Now she can get a hot young boy toy
So she gets 25% of Amazon. Each of her 4 kids get 6% and Jeff has 51%. Good for her. I will never understand why so many men cannot simply break up from a marriage without cheating. You want to sleep with other women, fine just ask for a divorce and move on. No need to embarrass your wives gees.
I think their separation has been in the works for some time before they made it official. No way they could divorce so quickly and so neatly. I had a friend who got divorced after 8 months of court dates and still 2 years after hadn’t fixed the apartement problem with her ex because they had a mortgage and it was not easy with the bank. These two have been in it for some time that’s why he felt free to date another woman and being so easy to spot. They were not hidding from her. They were hiding from the stockholders.
Egla – that’s exactly what I was thinking, that most likely they were planning to divorce before he took up with the second woman, so he really wasn’t cheating. The divorce was settled way too fast to be a surprise. Hadn’t thought about keeping the lid on it to keep stockholders unworried, though.
Exactly. But there always has to be a bad guy. Both of them seem happy and friendly; it’s not exactly the behavior of a woman who was jilted. This agreement has been in the works for a long time.
Ella 1000% agree. We live in a gossip culture so everyone is quick to yell cheating when usually the couple has been separated but keeps it private until they were ready to share it. Bezos kept his separation private until he was forced prematurely to announce it so as not to spook investors.
Brilliant! What she has left after that breathtakingly fast settlement is massive and she’s cut the strings by which he could influence or manipulate her future decisions. She’s really the brains so she will be JUST FINE. AND, except for their children (not a small consideration by any means, don’t misunderstand me ), doesn’t have to touch him with a ten-foot pole.