Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has been seeing a married former television anchor, and announced his split with wife MacKenzie Bezos to get ahead of the release of embarrassing photos that expose the affair.
Since at least the fall, Bezos has been seeing Lauren Sanchez, a helicopter pilot and the former anchor of Fox 11's Good Day LA who is married to Hollywood talent mogul husband Patrick Whitesell, according to reports.
Photos of Bezos, 54, and Sanchez, 49, are set to hit the newsstands on Thursday, in an edition of the National Enquirer that the magazine says 'exposes WHAT REALLY tore apart Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie after 25 years'.
The Enquirer claims that Bezos 'two-timed' his wife by 'whisking his mistress off to exotic destinations on his $65 million private jet' and 'sending her raunchy messages and erotic selfies.'
However, a source close to Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos tells DailyMail.com that the couple 'worked very hard' on their marriage before becoming separated, and that Jeff Bezos only began seeing Sanchez after separating from his wife.
Sanchez (far left) was spotted alongside Bezos at Amazon's Golden Globes party on Sunday (above). Other photos of the couple are set to hit newsstands on Thursday
Bezos (right) is seen with Sanchez and her husband Patrick Whitesell in 2016. The couple were said to be friends with Bezos and his wife before Bezos began seeing her on the side
Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos are seen together last year. A source close to the couple tells DailyMail.com that they had separated before he began seeing Sanchez
The National Enquirer will publish photos of Bezos and Sanchez in this edition set to hit the stands on Thursday. Bezos announced his divorce in anticipation of the photos' release
The Enquirer says it trailed Bezos across five states for four months in what it calls the 'largest investigation' in the magazine's history, with its photographer catching the lovebirds 'doing the dirty on their spouses together no fewer than six times in 14 days.'
The magazine claims that the affair has gone on for some eight months behind the back of both Bezos' wife and Sanchez's husband.
The bombshell story is a major coup for the Enquirer and its CEO David Pecker, a one-time ally to President Donald Trump, whose scorn for Bezos' Washington Post has been no secret.
Sanchez, who is said to have met Bezos while her company was shooting aerial video for his side venture Blue Origin, was publicly spotted alongside the online retail mogul as recently as Amazon's Golden Globes party on Sunday.
Bezos and Sanchez were seen together, along with her husband Whitesell, at a holiday party in Los Angeles in 2016.
The two couples are said to have known each other for years, and grown close because they both have homes in Seattle.
Lauren Sanchez is seen in 2012 at the Pussycat Dolls Burlesque Saloon in Las Vegas. The former TV anchor is now a helicopter pilot who owns a company that shoots aerial video
Sanchez is seen with her husband Patrick Whitesell in 2012. She married the powerful Hollywood talent agent in 2005 and the couple have two children together
Hours before word of Bezos and Sanchez's relationship became public, he announced that he was divorcing his novelist wife MacKenzie Bezos through a joint statement with her on Twitter Wednesday.
The couple claimed they had been going through a 'trial separation' in recent months.
Similarly, sources emerged late on Wednesday claiming that Sanchez and her husband Whitesell had 'separated' in recent months, attempting to spin the alleged affair as something that was known to all parties.
'Patrick and Lauren Sanchez have been separated for a while. Their marriage has been off and on for a while, and they tried hard to fix things, but in the fall they officially separated. She had told Patrick that she has been recently seeing Jeff Bezos,' an unnamed source told Page Six.
Bezos, 54, shared the https://twitter.com/JeffBezos/status/1083004911380393985 on his personal Twitter account shortly after 9am Eastern on Wednesday, signed by both him and MacKenzie.
'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 statement read.
'If we had known we would separate after 25 years, we would do it all again.'
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and novelist MacKenzie Bezos announced they are divorcing, through a joint statement on Wednesday, after 25 years of marriage. They are shown at left in 2003, and are pictured at right the 2018 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, California in March
'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 statement posted to Jeff's Twitter account on Wednesday read. 'If we had known we would separate after 25 years, we would do it again'
Jeff Bezos is worth close to $140 billion. The statement did not mention how the two will split that fortune, though experts believed that's already been hashed out.
Much of that dollar amount comes from his 16 percent ownership stake in Amazon, which briefly became the second US-based company to reach a $1 trillion valuation in September, behind Apple in August.
Amazon's stock edged up $2.84 on Wednesday to close at $1,659.42. That left Amazon with a market value of $811 billion, more than any other publicly traded company in the US. The company passed Microsoft this week to become the world's biggest publicly traded company by market capitalization.
The divorce should have no material impact on the company and its shares, said Thomas Forte, an analyst at DA Davidson & Co.
Amazon Vice President Drew Herdener told DailyMail.com in a statement: 'Jeff remains focused on and engaged in all aspects of Amazon.'
Two-time author MacKenzie Bezos, 48, who won an American Book Award in 2006, was one of the first employees of Amazon at its founding, doing accounting for the start-up.
Jeff and MacKenzie are pictured in Sun Valley, Idaho on July 12, 2003. She was one of the first employees of Amazon at its founding, doing accounting for the start-up
Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos married in 1993, one year before he founded Amazon, which he started from a garage in Seattle in 1994. Jeff is pictured with stacks of books in 1997
The two, who both graduated from Princeton University six years apart, live in Washington, which is a community property state, and that means all assets acquired during the marriage by either spouse are split equally unless there's a prenuptial agreement stating otherwise.
The division of the Bezos' assets will be complicated because the two will continue to pursue joint ventures, according to the joint statement.
'We feel incredibly lucky to have found each other and deeply grateful for every one of the years we have been married to each other,' the statement read.
'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.
'Though the labels might be different, we remain a family, and we remain cherished friends.'
Toby Yerburgh, Partner and Head of Family at Collyer Bristow LLP, told DailyMail.com:
'Not since the 'conscious uncoupling' statement of Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin have a high profile couple released such a positive and upbeat statement announcing their divorce as the one released today by Jeff Bezos and his wife.
'Such agreed statements often form part of the negotiations over a financial split and come attached to an NDA. They demonstrate the importance of high profile divorcing couples' lawyers working hand in glove with their PR agents.'
Jeff Bezos is worth close to $140 billion. The statement did not mention how the two will split that fortune. Jeff (right) is pictured attending the Amazon Prime Video's Golden Globe Awards After Party at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 6 in Beverly Hills, California with Mr. Robot series creator Sam Esmail (left), head of Amazon Studios Jennifer Salke (second from left), and the star of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Rachel Brosnahan (second from right)
The bulk of the assets now at issue in this financial split include nearly 79 million shares of Amazon stock, which is currently worth about $130 billion, along with Rocket ship maker Blue Origin and The Washington Post.
According to Refinitiv Eikon data, MacKenzie does not hold any Amazon shares directly.
Liat Sadler, a San Francisco matrimonial lawyer, noted that spouses owe a fiduciary duty to one another.
'They have duties not to waste or devalue marital resources, and to keep the value of marital property as high as possible,' she said. 'I don't think there is an issue of concern for shareholders as to what will happen to Amazon because of the divorce.'
Sadler said the main options facing the couple regarding Amazon stock were for Jeff to buy out his wife or for MacKenzie to retain shares.
'If she trusts that he would manage Amazon well, either he should pay her for her share of the stock, or they could enter a more complicated agreement where she keeps stock and he keeps voting rights,' she said.
It is unlikely that many details of the divorce will become public, New York lawyer Bernard Clair, who is representing Judith Giuliani in her divorce from former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, said.
'These two have been separated for a not insignificant time, and I would assume ... they would have used the time to reach a private, confidential agreement,' Clair said.
Less than two years ago, Jeff and MacKenzie couldn't keep their hands off of each other as they vacationed in Italy in May of 2017
Less than two years ago, the two couldn't keep their hands off of each other as they vacationed in Italy in May of 2017.
And now, on Sunday night, Jeff was all smiles while at the Golden Globe Awards, hobnobbing with celebrities without MacKenzie by his side.
Amazon Prime Video' hosted its own after party at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 6 in Beverly Hills, where he was photographed with Mr. Robot series creator Sam Esmail, head of Amazon Studios Jennifer Salke, and the star of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Rachel Brosnahan.
Jeff came up from virtually nothing to become the self-made billionaire, one hundred times over, that he is today.
He was born to a 16-year-old mother, Jacklyn Gise, and deadbeat dad, Ted Jorgensen, in Texas on January 12, 1964, as Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen.
When Jeff was 17 months old, his mom divorced Jorgensen, who belonged to a unicycle troupe and was making $1.25 per hour at a retail store, according to CNBC.
About three years later, Gise remarried Miguel Bezos in 1968.
Miguel had arrived in Miami in 1962 from Cuba, and he only knew one word of English: 'hamburger.'
When Jeff was four, Jorgensen agreed to allow Miguel to adopt his son, and that's how Jeff became became Jeffrey Preston Bezos.
'Though the labels might be different, we remain a family, and we remain cherished friends,' the statement read. Jeff (second from right) and MacKenzie Bezos (third from left) are pictured with their three sons, the oldest of which is Preston, 18 (second from left), and their adopted daughter from China (third from right), attending the premiere of Paramount Pictures' 'Star Trek Beyond' at Embarcadero Marina Park South on July 20, 2016 in San Diego, California
MacKenzie was born MacKenzie S. Tuttle on April 7, 1970, in San Francisco, California. Her father was a financial planner father and she had a stay-at-home mom.
By high school, she had moved east, and graduated from Hotchkiss School in Connecticut in 1988.
MacKenzie went on to graduate from Princeton University with a bachelor's
