Jeff Bezos’ upcoming marriage to Lauren Sanchez has been complicated by his immense wealth. After losing billions in his split from his first wife, the Amazon mogul’s second chance at love comes with new layers of legal protections.
When Jeff Bezos says “I do” for the second time, the real vows may be in his prenuptial agreement. With billions on the line and a famously public divorce behind him, the Amazon founder’s pending nuptials with former news anchor Lauren Sanchez are raising speculation about the legal fine print behind the mogul’s highly anticipated wedding. Bezos, who is the fourth richest person in the world and currently worth $223.7 billion, stands to lose a significant amount of his fortune without the proper legal protections should his second marriage fail.
Bezos and Sanchez’s three-day Venetian wedding celebration kicks off on June 24 and is said to be costing the couple upwards of $10 million. The couple announced their engagement in 2023, but ultimately delayed tying the knot due to delays with the prenup. According to The Hollywood Reporter, an insider said that the Bezos-Sanchez marriage was originally planned for the winter of 2024 in Aspen, but adjustments to the legal agreement pushed the date back, with Bezos’ lawyers allegedly forbidding the billionaire from moving forward until the prenup was settled.
Bezos’ and Sanchez’ prenup comes after the Amazon founder’s divorce in 2019 from MacKenzie Scott in which no such agreement existed. Scott walked away with more than $38 billion in Amazon shares, making the split one of the costliest separations in history. The divorce included explosive cheating allegations that accused Bezos of having an affair with now-fiancée Sanchez. The pair’s 25-year marriage long predated Bezos’ financial success; indeed, Scott worked as the first Amazon employee and witnessed Bezos usher Amazon into its iconic position. She also has four children with Bezos.
Bezos’ decision to protect his assets the second time around isn’t shocking to high-profile divorce attorney Robert Cohen, of Cohen Clair Lans Greifer & Simpson, who has handled the divorces of Melinda French Gates and Michael Bloomberg. “They’ve likely been through a nightmare before, which is litigation over their prior divorce and how much you’re giving the other side, or getting, and they don’t want to do that,” he tells Fortune.
Sanchez, who was married to her first husband Patrick Whitesell until 2019, allegedly signed a prenup with her former spouse with whom she shares two children. When the couple split, their assets and properties were divided per the agreement.
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