When Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos announced that they were getting divorced, people started doing the maths.

There was speculation that Jeff would lose the top spot on the list of the world’s richest people. On the other hand, MacKenzie was expected to rise up as the world’s richest woman.

As things turned out, the pair agreed to a record-breaking divorce settlement worth at least $35 billion, with MacKenzie retaining a 4% stake in online retail giant Amazon.

That makes it by far the biggest divorce settlement in history, although nowhere near the most bitter, with both parties sending off amicable tweets as the news broke.

Forbes has compiled a list of history’s biggest divorce settlements, and although we know who tops that list, let’s run through the rest of the top five.

2. Bill and Sue Gross—$1,3 billion

That hair though…

Bill and Sue had a pretty messy divorce that minted a new billionaire and ended another.

Sue filed for divorce in 2016 from her husband, the founder of asset-manager Pimco, and she walked away a year later with a $1.3 billion fortune. That haul included a $36 million Laguna Beach house and “Le Repos,” a contested 1932 Picasso painting that she later sold for $35 million.

Bill tried to hang onto one of their three cats, but Sue eventually got custody of all of them. Apart from the cat, Bill also lost his spot on ‘The Forbes 400’ in 2018, following 14 consecutive years on the list.

3. Steve and Elaine Wynn—$850 million

These two co-founded the casino giant Wynn Resorts and got divorced in 2010.

That settlement dictated that Elaine, a Wynn Resorts board member since 2002, receive 11 million shares, then worth an estimated $795 million. Steve also sold around $114 million in stock that year—some, if not all, went to Elaine as part of the deal. She then sued Wynn Resorts in 2012 to sell part of her 9% stake.

Three years later, she was kicked off the board amid a proxy battle. Steve was accused of sexual harassment and then sold all his shares.

Elaine is now worth $2 billion and is Wynn Resorts’ largest shareholder.

Classy.

4. Harold Hamm and Sue Ann Arnall—$975 million

With that face and that surname, it’s a good thing he’s rich.

After three years in court, oil tycoon Harold Hamm tried to finally end his marriage to Sue Ann with no prenup, by writing her a cheque for the amount of $974 790 317 from his Morgan Stanley account.

If numbers aren’t your strong suit, that is just shy of $1 billion.

She deposited it, but then changed her mind, decided she wanted more and filed an appeal seeking a bigger share of the $13.7 billion fortune tied to Hamm’s 75% ownership in publicly traded Continental Resources. In April 2015 the Oklahoma Supreme Court ended the saga, granting Harold’s motion to dismiss her appeal, reasoning from precedent that Sue Ann had agreed to the settlement by signing and depositing the check.

Drama! And it gets better or worse, depending on how much joy you derive from pettiness.

Sue Ann went on to use the settlement money to fund a political action committee to unseat the judge who presided over the divorce. She succeeded.

Almost as petty as Harry Macklowe…

5. Roy E. and Patricia Disney—$600 million

Roy and Patricia filed for divorce in 2007 at the ages of 77 and 72, respectively, after 52 years of marriage.

Roy, a nephew of Walt Disney, was worth approximately $1.3 billion at the time. Previously a Forbes 400 mainstay, he lost nearly half of his fortune in the split and was dropped from the list. In 2008, he married writer and producer Leslie DeMeuse.

And they lived happily ever after…

Not really, because he died a year later, but he had a good, long life. Patricia followed in 2012.

A family foundation bearing both of their names was set up to support environmental and economic concern – so that’s a bit of a happy ending.

Not a bad top five, right?

[source:forbes]