Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos focused on 'all aspects' of company despite divorce
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos remains firmly in control of the e-commerce giant’s many business initiatives amid divorce proceedings with his wife of 25 years, MacKenzie Bezos, the company said Wednesday.
“Jeff remains focused on and engaged in all aspects of Amazon,” a company spokesperson said in a statement obtained by FOX Business.
The couple announced their decision to divorce in statement signed by both parties and posted to Twitter. Terms of the divorce, including the fate of Bezos’ $137.2 billion personal fortune, were not immediately made available. If MacKenzie Bezos receives an even split of the fortune, she will rank as the world’s richest woman.
Amazon shares were mostly unchanged at market close Wednesday after briefly dipping on the announcement in early trading. Earlier this week the company snagged the most valuable U.S. company title with a market value, as of Wednesday, at $800 billion.
“As our family and close friends know, after a long period of loving exploration and trial separation, we have decided to divorce and continue our shared lives as friends,” the two said. “We feel incredibly lucky to have found each other and deeply grateful for every one of the years we have been married to each other.”
Jeff Bezos owns a 16 percent stake of Amazon and is the company’s top individual shareholder, according to regulatory filings. His 78.8 million shares of company stock are worth more than $130 billion.
Founded as an online bookseller, Amazon has emerged as a dominant force in the online retail sector. The company controlled an estimated 49 percent of U.S. e-commerce sales through 2018, according to eMarketer.
Amazon is still gaining market share in 2019, Piper Jaffray analysts said in a note this week. The e-commerce giant accounted for just 5 percent of U.S. online holiday sales this season, according to the firm’s estimates, indicating that Amazon can still attract customers who aren’t already heavy users of the platform.
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Additionally, Amazon has moved into the pharmacy space with its acquisition of PillPack. Also, a $13 billion purchase of Whole Foods is helping the company expand deeper into groceries. In his spare time, Bezos also oversees Blue Origin as he competes with Elon Musk’s SpaceX in a private sector space race.
FOX Business’s Susan Li contributed to this report.
