An Amazonian Divorce

As the shock wave of the news expanded over the last couple weeks, it would have been hard to miss that Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, has announced that him and his wife of twenty-five years were divorcing. 

The couple lived in Washington, a community property state, and with Amazon being founded during the marriage it could mean that MacKenzie would be entitled to half of the value of the massive company. Stocks, personal property, and other forms of Bezos’s wealth would need to be accounted for as well. But many say that it would be in MacKenzie’s ultimate best interest to have Amazon continue to be successful and thrive, so diluting her soon-to-be ex-husband’s share of the company would be counter-productive.

The couple created a charitable fund in late 2018 called the Day One Fund, which helps homeless families and creates preschools in impoverished areas. It started with a $2 billion from the Bezos’s, and it unclear as of yet how the fund will be impacted by the divorce.

See Emily C. Jeske, An Amazonian Divorce, Smith Debnam Law, January 9, 2019.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.) for bringing this article to my attention.