Jeff Bezos Is Engaged To Lauren Sanchez & Here's What It Cost Him To Divorce MacKenzie Scott
Jeff Bezos and partner Lauren Sanchez got engaged during a trip on his new megayacht, less than five years after the Amazon founder surrendered a major chunk of his wealth in the divorce with his last wife, MacKenzie Scott.
Page Six and CNN report that Bezos and Sanchez got engaged on his new yacht in May 2023, citing sources close to the couple. Sanchez and Bezos sat down with CNN last year to talk about giving away their wealth, so the outlet would know who to speak to when it comes to the pair.
Details of the proposal and the wedding were not immediately available, but it's safe to assume that one of the richest men in the world will go in with some sort of prenup in mind.
Bezos and Sanchez each ended their previous marriages in 2019, around the time they went public about their own relationship.
Sanchez, 53, is a former journalist who was married to entertainment executive Patrick Whitesell for 15 years. They broke it off in 2019.
Bezos, 59, was married to MacKenzie Scott for 25 years and they share four children. She also played a major role in helping him to build Amazon from an online bookseller into a globally dominant mega-retailer.
In other words, Bezos and Scott got married before he became one of the richest men in the world, so the divorce ended up being very expensive.
Still, Bezos remains the third-wealthiest person on the planet, so there'll be plenty of money for him to sort out before he and Sanchez say "I do."
How much money did MacKenzie Scott get after divorcing Jeff Bezos?
MacKenzie Scott's divorce settlement from Jeff Bezos was the largest in history, though she didn't get a full 50% of his Amazon fortune.
Scott received about $38 billion in Amazon shares, or roughly 4% of the company, in her divorce settlement, The Guardian and others report.
According to Scott, she ended up with 25% of their combined Amazon shares in the split, while she let Bezos keep all of his Blue Origin rocket company and the Washington Post for himself. The split was amicable, according to their statements.
"Grateful to have finished the process of dissolving my marriage with Jeff with support from each other and everyone who reached out to us in kindness, and looking forward to next phase as co-parents and friends," she tweeted in April 2019.
Scott turned around a month later and signed the Giving Pledge, joining many other billionaires in promising to give away her fortune.
"I will keep at it until the safe is empty," she wrote in her letter on the Giving Pledge website.
How much money has MacKenzie Scott given away?
Jeff Bezos' ex-wife MacKenzie Scott has given away over $14 billion since she divorced the Amazon founder in 2019, according to Yield Giving, her philanthropic website.
Forbes' billionaire net worth tracker indicates that her net worth actually went up during the COVID-19 pandemic, likely due to the surge in Amazon shares at the time. Her net worth peaked in 2021 at $53 billion, although it has since dropped to $24.4 billion as of May 23.
What is Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's dating history?
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez were introduced by her now-ex husband, Patrick Whitesell, at a party in 2016, according to Brad Stone's book Amazon Unbound.
He later started spending time with her in 2018 and she helped him get over his fear of flying during many helicopter trips, the Wall Street Journal reports. It's unclear exactly when things got romantic between the two, or what the crossover looked like with their marriages.
However, news of the relationship broke in the tabloids around the same time that Bezos announced his divorce from Scott in January 2019.
Sanchez and Whitesell filed for divorce one day after Bezos' divorce was finalized, Business Insider reports.
Bezos and Sanchez began going out in public in the summer of 2019 and he threw her a star-studded 50th birthday party at the end of the year.
The two have been close ever since, although Bezos might want to watch Sanchez around Leonardo DiCaprio.
Sanchez even joined Bezos for a rare 2022 interview with CNN to talk about all the ways they'll work together to give away his money, in a move that clearly pointed out how close they've become.
They got engaged in May 2023, according to reports. No wedding plans were immediately available.
How much is Lauren Sanchez's engagement ring worth?
Jeff Bezos clearly did not buy Lauren Sanchez's engagement ring on Amazon.
Although the couple have not released details of the ring, Ajay Anand of Rare Carat told Page Six that it appears to be a 20-carat ring worth about $2.5 million.
Recent photos showed her sporting a massive rock on her finger while spending time with Bezos on the Amazon founder's new megayacht, the Koru.
The $500-million yacht also features a figurehead that looks very much like Sanchez.
What is Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' net worth?
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was worth an estimated $137.8 billion as of May 23, according to Forbes' realtime net worth tracker.
Bezos stepped down as Amazon CEO in 2021 but he still owns a stake in the company. He also owns the Washington Post newspaper and Blue Origin, the space travel company that launched him briefly into space in the summer of 2021.
