Call me jaded, I'll call you naive.

Jeff Bezos would have created Amazon whether he was single or married.

Unless MacKenzie contributed conceptually to the business platform, she doesn't deserve a larger amount than a regular divorce w/child support would deserve. His wife didn't create 137 billion, he did.

Any amount larger than 1 billion is a disgusting joke.

That settlement is going to hurt the business too because he will have to sell massive amounts of stocks to give her half his money or just give her half his stocks. Either way, he might lose control of his own business. Amazon is now going to be own and controlled by Jeff AND MacKenzie. Who knows what decisions she'll make. It could easily destroy the confidence of his stock owners.

Same age as me. We've been together since high school, through college, and through building our family too.

Well, good luck when she hits 42-45

To the last paragraph first - we have no idea how the settlement is structured. Could be smaller #'s and larger in a trust for the kids.

To the other piece, about her having to contribute "conceptually" seems ridiculous. We have no idea how she contributed from as a filter "that idea is dumb", support (coming home to dinner), or even inspiration.

They decided when they got married that they didn't need a pre-nup, and you can't change the rules after the fact just because it suits you.

And I'm not naive. My wife and I both know exactly how much our household is spending, talk about how we're going to spend it on all expenses every month, long term plan for the house, retirement, vacations, college for our kids, and ultimately death.

You're projecting your life and love for your wife on the Bezos situation.


I'm super glad that you're happy, I really am. That doesn't mean everyone else has the same situation.

Oof. I'm sensing there's personal experience here. We're not at that age yet, but I also am going to try to make sure that we don't end up there.

I have never met a successful businessman who doesn't say they couldn't have been where they were today without their wife supporting them.

On top of all of this, it seems like a really amicable split between the two.

I do the dishes a lot too. Maybe I'm Jeff Bezos.

This has still gotten me thinking and I may have hit on why. It's the fact that once you get in a relationship, get married, EVERYTHING you decide is in that lens. You always are thinking "how does moving here impact the family" or "now my commute is longer but hers is shorter" or vice versa. There are so many decisions that add up to your life - and to just put the work aspect in a black box seems like nonsense to me. All of it is integrated.

Kansas.

I believe that Kansas is one of the states that recognizes common-law marriage.

Just FYI that seems to be a very different situation to the Bezos one where they are splitting amicably after 25 years. But that sucks for your relative. 4 years seems weird to be able to amass 15 mil.

Well at least now we know why our boy Tony dumped that bitch years ago.

Are you serious? If anything - being married was a distraction from his online empire. You have a huge advantage being a single professional. You have time, you have no obligations, and you can go after whatever vision you are dreaming up. Not that you can't when it's married but I don't see how being married had anything to do with Amazon - at all.