25 years, 27 years, and 41 years. $38 billion, an estimated $25 billion, and $80 billion. These are the number of years that mark the lengths of the Bezos, Gates, and Huang marriages, respectively. The following billions are the aftermath of when the marriages went kaput. Unfortunately for these tech billionaires, the wives who held the fort for decades (witnessing it all from garage offices and the first billion to monumental success) were key contributors to the empires. When marriages dissolve, billions can be at stake. The latest joining the billion-dollar divorce bandwagon is Nvidia president and CEO Jensen Huang, who may soon part ways with Lori Huang, his wife of 41 years, over an affair with Chinese businesswoman Alice Huang, as reported by BBC. A public apology has surfaced, and so has the remorse.
What is impending is a multi-billion-dollar settlement speculated to cross $80 billion, which would be more than Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos’s combined divorce payouts. What is common between these three power couples is a lack of a prenup. This means Lori, as per California state rules, is entitled to marital assets that are generally split equally. In addition, Lori Huang serves as the President of the Jen-Hsun and Lori Huang Foundation, a private philanthropic organization she established with her husband. The foundation reported $9.2 billion in assets as of 2024. Nvidia stated neither spouse has a financial interest in the foundation’s shares.
Furthermore, about $60 billion in Nvidia stock could be up for grabs when splitting the shares Jensen Huang holds. Half of the living trust’s direct Nvidia stake alone would be worth $41.8 billion. Jensen’s September Form 4 lists 811,521,160 shares worth about $145 billion at that closing price. Half would be worth $72.5 billion on paper, but the larger calculation includes two irrevocable trusts whose terms would help determine whether those assets could be divided Of course, all decisions will ultimately be taken by the sexagenarian couple married for over four decades, but if it were left to California law to govern a divorce, the default would generally be an equal division of the net community estate.
Something similar brewed between Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott. With a single signature on the dissolution of their marriage, Scott (holding about 19.7 million Amazon shares, or roughly 4 percent of the company in July 2019) became one of the richest women in the world. The case with Melinda French Gates was also not very different. Though the separation contract stayed private, rumor mills were rife with reports of roughly $3.2 billion in stock transfers in May and nearly $2.4 billion in August 2024. Forbes later estimated the overall settlement at $25 billion. The $12.5 billion French Gates announced in 2024 was earmarked for philanthropic work under the terms of her departure from the Gates Foundation.
In addition to company shares, even their abodes were split. Melinda, with no fondness for Xanadu 2.0, left it to Bill. In Lori’s case, she will have the choice of three homes in California and Hawaii. The wealthy couple resides in a massive $38 million, 11,400-square-foot limestone mansion in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights featuring Golden Gate Bridge views and two wine rooms. Included in their real estate portfolio is a six-bedroom Los Altos Hills estate bought for $6.9 million in 2003 and a retreat in a gated oceanfront community in Wailea, Maui, purchased for about $7.5 million in 2004. It looks like the world is setting the stage for yet another powerful woman to carve her own individual path of wealth and philanthropy with her mega billions and a possibly broken heart.
Note – In the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires snapshot used for this comparison, Jeff Yass ranked No. 27 with an estimated net worth of $77.8 billion. A hypothetical $80 billion share for Lori Huang would put her about $2.2 billion ahead of him on that snapshot.
