Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos recently announced that he and his wife Mackenzie are getting divorced. This immediately ignited a fire of rumors and speculation about how the spouses would share their rather big (to put it mildly) property. After all, Bezos is the richest man in the world according to Forbes magazine.
While there are no details about Bezos' divorce proceedings yet, the tech mogul may be on a long list of celebrities who have cost millions and even billions of dollars to divorce, including Paul McCartney, Madonna, Tiger Woods, and more. the most expensive divorce proceedings of all time.
10. Mel and Robin Gibson - $ 425 million
Mel "Braveheart" Gibson courageously parted with half of his estimated $ 850 million fortune when he divorced his wife. Robin is entitled not only to 50% of her ex-husband's wealth, but also to half of any future income from his films.
9. Craig and Wendy McCaw - $ 460 million
Businessman Craig McCaw is the embodiment of the American dream of a self-made man. At the age of 19, he became the head of a rock and roll radio station owned by his deceased father, and a few years later managed to transform it from a “provincial” with 4 thousand subscribers to one of the most famous cable TV operators in the country.
For a long time, he was included in the list of the richest Americans according to Forbes, dropping out only in 2016. But who knows, this would have happened if Craig's wealth had not been shaken by the divorce from his first wife, Wendy. They broke up in 1997 after a 23-year marriage. Craig gave his ex-wife almost half a billion dollars.
As part of the divorce settlement, Wendy received most of her payments in the form of Nextel shares. This allowed her to buy the Santa Barbara News-Press from The New York Times.
8. Dmitry and Elena Rybolovleva - $ 604 million
It's bad if you owe your ex 604 million "evergreen" American presidents. But it is good that the amount of the ransom money did not amount to $ 4.5 billion. It was this astronomical amount that the ex-wife of the Russian oligarch should have received according to the decision of the Geneva court.
Of course, the businessman challenged this decision, and the second instance reduced the amount paid to Elena to $ 604 million. In addition to this, the woman got two houses in Switzerland. As the saying goes: a trifle, but nice.
7. Stephen and Elaine Wynn - $ 741 million
In March 2009, Las Vegas gambling tycoon Stephen Wynn filed for divorce from his wife Elaine and was due to pay her approximately $ 741 million.
In fact, this is the second time the couple divorced - the first of them was in 1986. And five years later, the Wynnes remarried, and divorced again in 2009. It is curious that, despite the family squabbles, Elaine remained a member of the board of directors in her husband's company until 2015.
6. Adnan and Soraya Khashoggi - $ 874 million
In 1961, a young 20-year-old Englishwoman Sandra Daly (converted to Islam and the name Soraya) married an international arms dealer, Adnan Khashoggi.Not only did Soraya become a mother of five during their 13-year marriage, she was also Adnan's business partner. However, their marriage ended abruptly in 1974, with Khashoggi promising to continue to financially support his ex-wife and children's lifestyle after the divorce. Adnan lost his billionaire status, and Soraya got almost a billion dollars as a keepsake.
5. Harold and Sue Ann Ham - $ 1 billion
The oil tycoon, owner of Continental Resources, and his wife have never had a cloudless relationship. In 1998, Mr. Ham filed for divorce. And in 2005, Mrs. Ham decided to break the marriage bond.
Both times the marriage was saved, but in 2012 the couple still began the divorce proceedings. Sue Ann motivated this by the betrayal of Harold. In 2014, the couple finally reached an agreement on the division of property. Freedom cost the businessman $ 1 billion (this includes the company's shares and regular payments to the ex-wife).
4. Bernie and Slavica Ecclestone - $ 1.2 billion
After a divorce, many women change their hairstyle or renew their wardrobe. Former Armani model Slavica Ecclestone, after parting with her husband, bought a private jet for $ 60 million. In 2009, following the dissolution of a 23-year marriage with the general director of Formula 1 racing, Slavika received more than $ 1 billion in a divorce agreement. Something tells us that she can afford this plane and there will still be money for a couple of most expensive cars in the world.
3. Rupert Murdoch and Anna Torv - $ 1.7 billion
One of the most expensive divorces in the world happened in 1999. 32 years after the wedding march and the birth of three children, the Australian media mogul and founder of News Corp and 21st Century Fox media holdings received a court order to hand out $ 110 million in cash to ex-wife Anna, along with shares of News Corp.
17 days after the divorce, Rupert led down the aisle Wendy Deng, who is now a member of the News Corporation and is one of the richest and most influential women in the world. However, she also divorced Rupert.
And Anna married investor William Mann. Divorce is never fun, but given new love and huge bank accounts, we don't feel sorry for these two.
2. Rupert Murdoch and Wendy Deng - $ 1.8 billion
To get twice on the list of the most expensive divorces in history, you need to have a very large fortune. Well, the owner of "factories, newspapers, ships" in different countries of the world can afford such a luxury.
The happiness of the elderly billionaire and Chinese beauty lasted for 13 years. In the marriage they had two daughters, the eldest godfather is the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, to whom the press attributed the affair with Deng.
In February 2014, The Daily Telegraph ran an article claiming that Deng had fallen in love with Tony Blair, leading to her divorce from Murdoc. And an article in The Economist claimed that as a result of Murdoch's suspicions of his wife's infidelity, he ended his longtime relationship with Blair in 2014. Be that as it may, the scandal in the noble family ended in the separation of Wendy and Rupert. Both she and he were quickly comforted in the arms of their new lovers.
1. Alec and Jocelyn Wildenstein - $ 3.8 billion
The socialite (who actually turned her face into a lion's face) and her husband - a passionate lover of big cats and part-time billionaire - lived happily ever after until 1997. Until Jocelyn found the faithful in bed with the Russian model Elena Zharikova. There was a stormy scene between the spouses, during which Alec, according to Jocelyn, pointed a gun at her. Because of this incident, he had to spend the night in jail.
In the same year, the "lion" and "lioness" fled, but the divorce proceedings took two years and was extremely dirty. Alec said that his former "kitty" moonlighted in an elite Parisian brothel. But Jocelyn sued the ex-husband for almost 4 billion dollars, hitting him in the most painful place - the wallet. However, the judge made sure that not a cent of that money would go towards further cosmetic surgery.
But perhaps the most expensive divorce in the world lies ahead when the details of Jeff and Mackenzie Bezos' divorce proceedings are revealed. The couple, who hooked up a year before founding the giant retail company, reportedly have no marriage agreement. And Jeff's home state of Washington is one of the few remaining so-called “communal ownership” states, where marital assets are generally divided equally.