With $137B at Stake, Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos to Divorce | Hacker News Reader

With $137B at Stake, Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos to Divorce

bloomberg.com

26 pointskposehn23 comments

I'm not sure the money is really at stake. They were married when Amazon was just a tiny start-up and Washington is a community property state.

Half of all assets gained during the marriage belong to his wife. The only way it could be less is if she agreed to take something less.

If that's the case, I guess his wife will make an entry into the top 10 wealthiest people in the world.

I hope the loss of 50% of his net worth doesn't detract from his space faring aspirations or considerable charitable donations (although I don't remember if he is one of the immensely wealthy people who vowed to give most of it away).

Doesn't your statement contradict itself?

How likely is the "accept less" scenario?

I can't see why anyone would!

This is explained in the article

Where? It only states she could accept less, but why would she?

I think the problem here is the impact on the company itself it would give her a huge stake in the company who she does not have now.

I wonder if there will be some sort of a buyout offered.

Why wouldn't she be ok with less money? Money over $10 million is just about power, you have all your needs met. She can get significantly more of course (probably few billions of dollars, why not?), but I don't think she cares about it that much. As MacKenzie went into the background when she wasn't needed anymore (which is not true for power hungry people), she doesn't look like the power hungry person.

With $10M she probably wouldn’t be able to afford the upkeep of the house in which she presently lives. Or upkeep of her jet.

That poor woman.

I see, than it's maybe $100M that's mostly enough for that. What's important is that most of the money wouldn't get spent to buy things by Jeff or her.

If someone said you could have $10M or $1B, you’re entitled to either, which one would you choose?

I like power, but I wouldn't go to background if I would be an Amazon cofounder.

And what is money under $10 million about? You’re projecting your values so hard

Sadly with the current asset prices to have a comfortable life in where her friends are, a nice house cost probably millions of dollars.

Having got through a divorce (though in California) I don't see how this need make a huge difference to AMZN. The division of assets is not a taxable event, so no big stock sales. She could sign a voting rights agmt to vote her shares always with her ex husband's -- this could remove any "change of control" issues that would reduce the value of the company, and if they agree are going to continue as friends this would likely be no big deal.

In other words, a private matter and likely not "news" in the sense of implying some shift in the tech sector.

If she gets half does the entire amount become taxable immediately? I am sure Uncle Sam would love 6+ billion dollar return.

No. She is taking half of the assets that are already hers (shared with Jeff).

What if getting a divorce is the only way a tech founder can lose control of his company? (e.g. facebook, etc)

What if u r a billionaire, and pledged to give away half your money to charity, then get divorced, and end up with nothing?

These are very pressing issues.

A pledge is not a legally binding contract afaik.

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