Billionaire Jeff Bezos, the founder and Chief Executive of Amazon.com Inc, and spouse MacKenzie Bezos have decided to divorce following a long trial separation. The couple announced the decision yesterday on twitter.
The couple in the statement said, "After a long duration of loving exploration and trial separation, we both have decided to separate and continue our shared lives as friends".
Amazon, which was formed 25 years back, surpassed Microsoft to become the world's most valuable listed company this week.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, Bezos, 54, the founder of Amazon, is the world's richest man, with an estimated wealth of $137 billion, some $45 billion ahead of Bill Gates.
On the other hand, 48-year-old MacKenzie is a novelist. She grew up in San Francisco. Later she attended Princeton University where she met hubby Jeff during a job interview at a hedge fund in New York, according to the Vogue Magazine.
MacKenzie is the writer of The Testing of Luther Albright (2005) and Traps (2013).
The couple said, "We are extremely lucky to have found each other and we are deeply grateful for every one of the years we have been married to each other”.
They further said, "If we had known we would divorce after 25 years then we would do it all again. We both had such a great life together as a married couple and we also see an amazing future ahead - as parents, friends and partners in ventures & projects, and as individuals following ventures and adventures.
Jeff and MacKenzie said “Although the labels might be different, we remain a family and we will remain cherished friends."
In 2018, the couple launched a charity project jointly, the Day One Fund, to help homeless families and constructing pre-schools in low-income communities.
They are blessed with four kids - three sons and an adopted daughter whom they love very much.
According to US media report, Bezos has been in relationship with a former Fox TV anchor, Lauren Sánchez.
TMZ, an entertainment news site, citing sources linked to Sánchez, told that the anchor has been ‘seeing’ Mr Bezos since late last year.
After three months of dating, the couple got engaged and married soon after, in 1993.
Soon after one year Jeff founded Amazon, which started as an online book retailer. The firm has since expanded into an e-commerce giant.
It must be noted that Amazon was worth $797 billion when the US stock market closed on 7th January, after rising 3.4 percent and moving Microsoft, valued at $789 billion.
Under Jeff Bezos, Amazon started the Kindle e-reader and transformed the way books are disseminated and read. The firm has also been a pioneer in cloud computing.
In November last year, the company picked US’ financial and political capitals for enormous new offices, expanding from its home base in Seattle with plans to generate over 25,000 jobs in New York City and an area just outside Washington.
