People
SEATTLE — Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos is divorcing his wife MacKenzie, ending a 25-year marriage that played a role in the creation of an e-commerce company that made him the world's wealthiest person.
The decision to divorce comes after a trial separation, according to a statement posted Wednesday on Bezos' Twitter account. Both Bezos and his wife signed the announcement that ended with a vow to remain “cherished friends.”
Left unanswered was one of the biggest sticking points in any divorce: How the assets amassed during the marriage will be divided.
And there has never been more money than in this case.
Bezos' fortune hovers around $137 billion, based on estimates by both Forbes and Bloomberg. Virtually all of that is tied up in the nearly 79 million shares of Amazon stock (currently worth about $130 billion) that Bezos owns in the Seattle company, translating into a 16 percent stake. Bezos also owns rocket ship maker Blue Origin and The Washington Post, which he bought for $250 million in 2013.
Amazon's origins trace back to a road trip that Bezos took with MacKenzie, not long after they met in New York while working at hedge fund D.E. Shaw. They got married just six months after they began dating, according to Bezos.
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NEW YORK — Kevin Hart said he won't be hosting the Academy Awards.
“No,” was his response when asked Wednesday on ABC's “Good Morning America.” Hart said it's too late to prepare.
Hart added it's “hard to predict what can happen.” But he doesn't want “people to think there's a thing about me and the Academy.”
The motion picture academy has not named a replacement host for its Feb. 24 awards show since Hart backed away days after being named host last month when some anti-gay tweets he had made a decade ago resurfaced.
Earlier this week on his Sirius XM show “Straight from the Hart” program, he again apologized to the LGBTQ community.
He told “GMA” he's not giving any more explanations. Hart said, “I'm just done.”
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PITTSBURGH — Actor Joe Manganiello stopped by a Pittsburgh children's hospital to lead patients in a game of Dungeons and Dragons.
The 42-year-old “True Blood” actor, who is married to Sofia Vergara, stopped by UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh with his brother Nick Manganiello to lead a session of the role-playing game. A newspaper reports the actor assumed the rule of “Dungeon Master,” leading the story of the game.
The tabletop game allows players to create their own unique characters and have them embark on adventures led by a storyteller and referee called the “Dungeon Master.”
Manganiello said he regularly plays and hosts sessions of Dungeons and Dragons. He and his brother said they hope Tuesday's game will inspire others to learn the game.
