Speculation about whether Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos signed a prenup before tying the not back in 1993 – nearly a year before Bezos founded Amazon and long before his net worth was even in seven-figure territory – has been percolating for two days, since the Amazon CEO and world’s wealthiest man revealed in a surprising announcement that he and his wife would be seeking a divorce.
Many have assumed that, given the length of their marriage and their relative lack of assets at the time, that they didn’t bother with this formality before getting hitched roughly six months after they started dating. Now, gossip site TMZ has confirmed that this is indeed the case.
As pair prepare to file for divorce in the state of Washington, which requires equitable distribution of marital assets, it appears that MacKenzie Bezos will almost certainly emerge from the proceedings as the world’s wealthiest woman – and Bezos will sink from world’s wealthiest to world’s fifth-wealthiest man.
As TMZ reports, the division of assets could be extremely complicated thanks to the couple’s “baronial” land-holdings (the Bezos’ are the second-largest landowners in the US).
When the couple married in 1993 – 6 months after meeting – Jeff wasn’t even a millionaire. He didn’t become one until 1997, so dreams of being the richest man in the world were pie in the sky.
The division of assets will be incredibly complicated. Aside from cold hard cash, the former couple is hardcore baronial – they own 400,000 acres of property, making them 2 of the biggest landholders in the country. Valuing that land is complicated.
TMZ also offered an update on Bezos’ romance with former “So You Think You Can Dance?” Anchor Lauren Sanchez, who is the estranged wife of Hollywood power agent Patrick Whitesell. Apparently, both MacKenzie and Patrick were aware of their spouses’ relationship, and though the couples were “super close” for a decade, adopting to the situation has left things “super awkward” for the other spouses.
We’re also told both Patrick and MacKenzie have known about Jeff and Lauren’s relationship. It’s still awkward – Lauren and Patrick were super close to Jeff and MacKenzie for a decade.
In other news, as the National Enquirer has published a parade of leaks about Bezos’ and Sanchez’s relationship, the New York Post reported that the steamy text messages published by the tabloid were sold to it by a friend of Sanchez, with whom she shared the messages during what we can only imagine was the female equivalent of “locker room talk”.
With more leaks from the tabloid’s four-month investigation expected, it appears President Trump was right when he said that the Bezos divorce was going to be “a beauty”.
