Jeff Bezos to keep 75% of couple's Amazon stock after finalizing divorce

KEY POINTS

• MacKenzie Bezos announces on Twitter that she and Jeff Bezos have completed the process of dissolving their marriage.
• She grants him 75 percent of their Amazon stock, along with voting control.
• She also says she will give him her interests in The Washington Post and the Blue Origin aerospace company.
• The settlement would make her among the five richest women in the world.
• Her ex will remain the world's richest person.

Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO Amazon.com, and his wife Mackenzie Bezos arrives for the Allen & Co., arrives to the Allen & Co. annual conference July 12, 2013 in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Kevork Djansezian | Getty Images News | Getty Images

MacKenzie Bezos announced on Twitter on Thursday that she and Jeff Bezos have completed the process of dissolving their marriage, leaving her with $35.6 billion in Amazon stock.

MacKenzie Bezos said she was "happy" to be giving her ex-husband 75 percent of their stock in Amazon along with voting control of her shares. She also relinquished to him all of her interests in The Washington Post and the Blue Origin aerospace company.

The settlement would make her the fourth-richest woman in the world. She ranks behind Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, Alice Walton and Jacqueline Mars, according to Bloomberg.

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, MacKenzie Bezos will retain shares representing about 4 percent of Amazon's outstanding common stock, making her the third-biggest shareholder at the company, behind her ex-husband and Vanguard. He remains the richest person in the world, even after losing $35.6 billion in Amazon stock.

According to the latest proxy filing, Jeff Bezos will remain Amazon's biggest shareholder, with a stake of about 12%.

Amazon's stock was down about 0.4% Thursday afternoon following the news and closed down 0.1%.

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. Happy to be giving him all of my interests in the Washington Post, Blue Origin, and 75% of our Amazon stock plus voting control of my shares to support his continued contributions with the teams of these incredible companies. Excited about my own plans. Grateful for the past as I look forward to what comes next.

In a separate statement, Jeff Bezos shared his gratitude to his ex-wife.

"I'm grateful for her support and for her kindness in this process and am very much looking forward to our new relationship as friends and co-parents," Bezos said.

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The announcement clears up some concerns investors had in the days after the couple announced their plans to get a divorce about who would have voting power at Amazon. The Bezoses' split represented a unique situation, according to divorce law experts, since the two were together before Amazon started and before either of them owned such a vast amount of money.

While other founders and CEOs have gotten divorces, most had met their spouses after acquiring their wealth. MacKenzie Bezos, on the other hand, reportedly played a significant role laying Amazon's roots. In an oft-cited origin story, MacKenzie drove the pair from New York to Seattle while Jeff wrote Amazon's business plan. MacKenzie eventually negotiated Amazon's first freight contracts, according to Wired.

Watch: Jeff Bezos 1999 interview on Amazon before the dotcom bubble burst