Parting ways... costs

Mona

The founder, chairman, CEO, and president of Amazon is sure a man in news; largely due to his business ventures as also due to his humanitarian work. However, when Jeff Bezos took to twitter to make people ‘aware’ of the new development in his life, it also gave disturbed the ‘richest’ listings. After all, he happens to be the richest man in the world!

Well, wait... not anymore. The new development might catapult MacKenzie as the ‘richest’ woman in the world and make Bill Gates resumes the position, as the wealthiest man, for this is one divorce settlement is due to cost Jeff some 69 billion dollars!

Sans a pre-nuptial agreement, the novelist wife of Jeff for the last 25 years is entitled to the half the wealth. While this would take a while before one gets to who got what, here’s a quick look at a few of the costliest divorce settlements.

Big money

Adultery, that reportedly is the cause for Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie’s legal separation, is also said to be the cause of what’s touted as second costliest divorce — that of French billionaire Alec Wildenstein and Jocelyne Wildenstein. Not that an amicable one, a lengthy hearing apparently granted Jocelyne a total of $2.5 billion in 1999.

Bob Johnson and Sheila Crump Johnson parted ways at a cost of $400 million in 2002. Television moguls and famous first African-American billionaires were married for 33 years. Interestingly, Sheila Johnson who ventures in different businesses and was Global Ambassador for CARE, a humanitarian organisation fighting global poverty, had a relatively lavish second wedding to the very judge who presided over her divorce case, compared to her very basic nuptials with Bob Johnson.

Hollywood lanes

The largest Hollywood divorce payout is credited to actor Mel Gibson, who doled out close to half-a-million dollars as settlement with Robyn Moore in 2006. It was a pregnant Oksana Grigorieva that made Mel and Robyn seal their settlement. Unfortunately, the second marriage of Gibson lasted only a year. Mel (63) is currently married to much younger Rosalind Ross (28) – his third wife.

With 23 years of marriage behind them, when Formula One racing CEO Bernie Ecclestone parted ways with his Croatian wife Slavica Radic and the settlement was pegged at $1.2billion. 

Home front

Closer home, the priciest separation is said to be that of Hrithik Roshan and Sussane Khan. After 14 years of marriage and two boys, Sussane demanded Rs 400 crore in alimony and was given Rs 380 crores in 2014. The duo, however, continue to be amicable friends and responsible co-parents, giving relationship goals with their Insta posts.

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