One of the most important wealth transfers in history is expected in the coming days. With the flick of a judge’s pen, a $38 billion stake in Amazon will pass to MacKenzie Bezos due to her separation from business enterprise founder Jeff Bezos. “This is the Godzilla of all divorces,” said Peter Walzer, president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and founding associate of Walzer Melcher. “Nothing comes close to it because of the quantity of wealth that’s being divided.”
A regulatory disclosure detailing the shift in possession is anticipated in early July, keeping with an April submission. It will offer a rare glimpse into the globe’s richest divorce due to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules that require insiders to reveal changes in their holdings. While divorce instances aren’t a mystery in Washington state, little else is anticipated to be discovered. “Even in states where it isn’t private, events can report for divorce but not connect their agreement settlement,” Walzer stated. “There are ways around the public nature of divorce.”
Jeff Bezos, fifty-five, remains the world’s richest individual, with a 12% Amazon stake worth $112 billion, in step with the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He’ll hold other property, along with the Washington Post and space-exploration corporation Blue Origin, MacKenzie Bezos, 49, said in an April tweet. The amounts concerned are extraordinary. While Larry Ellison has been through more than one divorce, none has affected his stake in the software maker. Likewise, Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s stake remained unchanged after he and Anne Wojcicki divorced without fanfare in 2015.
Oil enterprise tycoon Harold Hamm’s separation from Sue Ann Arnall was far messier. The couple filed for divorce in 2012 after 26 years of marriage, and their trial two years later ended with Hamm, the chairman and CEO of Continental Resources Inc., being ordered to pay her $972 million of his then-estimated $16.1 billion fortune. Arnall later sought to reopen the case, but the Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed the enchantment in 2015. MacKenzie Bezos has stated she intends to give away a whole lot of her wealth. She signed the Giving Pledge in May, promising to donate more than half of her fortune to philanthropy.
“I won’t wait,” she wrote in her pledge. “And I will keep at it till the safe is empty.” The divorce petition identifies Bellevue, Washington-primarily based Ted Billbe as her lawyer. Seattle’s Sherri Anderson is the legal professional for Jeff Bezos. Neither spoke back to requests for remark. Even if different information stays under wraps, the case is about to remain a cornerstone of communication among divorce attorneys.
