I’d like to get a cut of either side of the divorce settlement. Several worthwhile charities would be very happy!
Washington state is also a community property state; any assets obtained during a marriage except through inheritance are considered equally owned. Unless Bezos started Amazon with assets that were his separate property at the time of the marriage, and that he clearly kept separate and did not commingle with marital assets, then she would be entitled to half of the Amazon stock. Different story if Amazon was in existence at the time of the marriage and was his separate asset; but even then there would be a fight over the value of Bezos’ time spent during the marriage in making that ostensibly separate asset more valuable.