A divorce is not just the split of a married couple; it is also the division of net worth, hard-earned wealth, and status. While it greatly benefitted MacKenzie Scott, who isn’t interested in her own benefit but rather that of others, Bezos ended up losing the chance of becoming the world’s richest man. The centibillionaire was at the numero uno spot when he decided to pursue his relationship with Lauren Sanchez and divorce his wife of 25 years, Scott. During his separation, Bezos was ultra-rich with a net worth of $150 billion, but the divorce settlement transferred a 4% stake in Amazon to Scott. This personal decision affected the financial aspects of his business, impacting Bezos’s potential net worth.
The mind likes to wander and ponder how different the scenario would be had Bezos maintained his full share in Amazon, without the divorce. If the Amazon co-founder had liquidated portions of his stock, his wealth could have been significantly higher, and Amazon’s market cap would be an incredible $1.8 trillion. His mighty 16% stake would equate to $288 billion according to Amazon’s closing stock price, far surpassing other competing billionaires like Elon Musk, who is worth $214 billion, and LVMH boss Bernard Arnault, who is worth $192 billion, in the wealth race. As of today according to Bloomberg, Jeff Bezos’ wealth is estimated at $194 billion, positioning him at the second spot on the list of the world’s richest people, a slight margin behind Tesla Inc. CEO.
It is safe to assume that Jeff Bezos, one of the smartest minds around, would have foreseen the financial casualties of his split, but the heart wants what it wants, and being number one wasn’t on his mind. His divorce may have made him $38 billion poorer, but Bezos had voting control of her Amazon shares, as well as stakes in the Washington Post and Blue Origin, per WSJ. Jeff and Mackenzie met in the 1990s when working for a New York-based investment firm. Incidentally, Jeff was among the first people to interview her when she applied for a job. When Amazon was founded in 1994, Mackenzie Bezos served as an accountant. The couple has four children together.
Benzinga did the math and stated that the Microsoft billionaire might have become the first trillionaire. Gates’s stake in the tech behemoth, based on its current $2.8 trillion market capitalization, would be valued at an astronomical $1.23 trillion today. It is only a matter of time before they achieve these unprecedented milestones, as long as they can keep second divorces at bay.
