MacKenzie Bezos Will Become The World's Fourth Richest Woman

Divorce is often perceived as a bad or sad thing, but you don't have to look at it that way - it's also the ending of an unhappy relationship, and potentially the beginning of a happier new chapter.

It seems particularly likely that a divorce may signal the beginning of a happier new chapter if you come away from it as the fourth richest woman in the world.

MacKenzie Bezos announced yesterday that she would be taking away a four percent stake in Amazon once her divorce from the company's founder, Jeff Bezos, is finalised. At current value, this means her stake is worth more than $35 (£37) billion, according to Forbes.

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This will leave her just shy of the medal places in the non-existent world's richest woman competition.

L'Oreal heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers would take the gold, with a fortune worth $54 (£41) billion, while Alice Walton would be in second place with a value of $44 (£34) billion. Picking up the bronze, you'd have Jacqueline Badger Mars, with a fortune of $37 (£28) billion - all according to calculations by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Jacqueline Badger Mars can take some comfort though in knowing she absolutely takes gold in the non-existent world's best-named billionaire competition.

MacKenzie revealed some of the details of her divorce settlement with Jeff in a tweet yesterday (Thursday).

She said: "Grateful to have finished the process of dissolving my marriage with Jeff with support from each other and with help from everyone who reached out to us in kindness, and looking forward to next phase as co-parents and friends.

"Happy to be giving him all my interests in the Washington Post and Blue Origin, and 75% of our Amazon stock plus voting control of my shares to support his continued contributions with the teams of these incredible companies.

"Excited about my own plans. Grateful for the past as I look forward to what comes next."

Jeff also paid tribute to MacKenzie in a simultaneous tweet of his own.

He said: "I'm so grateful to all my friends and family for reaching out with encouragement and love. It means more than you know. MacKenzie most of all.

"I'm grateful for her support and for her kindness in this process and am very much looking forward to our new relationship as friends and co-parents.

"In all our work together, MacKenzie's abilities have been on full display. She has been an extraordinary partner, ally, and mother. She is resourceful and brilliant and loving, and as our futures unroll, I know I'll always be learning from her."

It is not known how they intend to split their property portfolio.

The pair got married in 1993 and have four children together. They announced they planned to divorce in January 'after a long period of loving exploration and trial separation'.

Topics: News, Interesting, US News

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey