Amazon.com Inc founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man, and wife MacKenzie Bezos are divorcing after 25 years of marriage, the couple said on Twitter on Wednesday.
Jeff Bezos, 54, has a fortune that has soared as high as $160 billion thanks to his stake in Amazon, which again became Wall Street's most valuable company this week, surpassing Microsoft Inc.
Bezos has credited MacKenzie, 48, for her support when he uprooted the young couple from New York to Seattle so he could launch the online bookseller that grew into one of the world's largest retailers. MacKenzie, a Princeton graduate who is now a novelist, did accounting for Amazon for its first year after it was founded in 1994.
The couple decided to divorce after a long period of“loving exploration” and trial separation, and expect to continue as partners in joint ventures and projects, according to the joint statement.
Reuters was unable to determine any further financial details of the planned divorce.
Amazon did not immediately return requests for comment about the status of the Bezos ownership stake or what impact the divorce might have on the company.
MacKenzie Bezos met her husband when interviewing for a job at a New York hedge fund, according to a 2013 profile in Vogue. The two were engaged after three months of dating and married three months after that, according to the magazine. The pair have four children.
Speaking at an event in Berlin last April, Jeff Bezos said MacKenzie's support was instrumental when he founded Amazon in 1994, and that she did the accounting for the company in its first year.
”When you have loving and supportive people in your life, like MacKenzie, my parents, my grandfather, my grandmother, you end up being able to take risks,” he said at the event.
From modest beginnings, Amazon branched out into almost every product category.
Under Bezos, Amazon launched the Kindle e-reader and revolutionised the way books are distributed and read. The company has also been a pioneer in cloud computing.
He also owns the Washington Post, which has been a target of criticism from US President Donald Trump.
