Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, are divorcing.
The billionaire executive and his wife of 25 years announced the news Wednesday — three days before his 55th birthday — in a tweet signed by both of them. They have four children.
"We want to make people aware of a development in our lives. 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 tweet says.
The couple last year launched a charitable fund together, dubbed the Day One Fund. The statement Wednesday suggests they will continue to work together on that effort.
"We've had such a great life together as a married couple, and we also see wonderful futures ahead, as parents, friends, partners in ventures and projects, and as individuals pursuing ventures and adventures," the tweet says.
MacKenzie Bezos, a 48-year-old novelist, is often cited in the Amazon origin story as having supported her husband's move off of Wall Street and into e-commerce. Last year, Jeff Bezos said in an interview with his brother Mark at the SummitLA conference that he was looking for a resourceful woman "who could get [him] out of a third-world prison" as he was going through a series of blind dates before he met MacKenzie. (Jeff Bezos has repeated that story several times over the decades.)
Shares of Amazon dipped slightly immediately following the announcement before paring those losses.
"Jeff Remains focused on and engaged in all aspects of Amazon," an Amazon spokesman told CNBC Wednesday.
