Jeff Bezos rarely talks about his private life.
In January 2019, the founder of e-commerce giant Amazon and his wife of 25 years, Mackenzie Scott, announced to the world that they were going to divorce. The announcement was made on Twitter.
It was one of the rare moments when the public got a glimpse into the life of the man who transformed Amazon (AMZN) from an online bookseller into an e-commerce juggernaut.
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The divorce was finalized a few months later. MacKenzie Scott received a 4% stake in the online shopping giant, worth at the time more than $38 billion. She indicated that the Amazon CEO would keep 75% of the couple’s Amazon stock, along with voting control of his ex-wife’s shares “to support his continued contributions with the teams of these incredible companies."
The couple have four children.
'Jeff Makes Pancakes'
At the same time, Bezos was the joy of the tabloid press. The National Enquirer had got hold of intimate photos of the billionaire. According to the Wall Street Journal at the time, there was evidence that it was Michael Sanchez, the brother of his new girlfriend, who sold the photos to the tabloid. His sister had shared these photos with him.
Since that soap opera, all we have seen of the Bezos-Sanchez couple have been photos from their vacation, images of them watching an NFL game after Amazon Prime won the rights to broadcast Thursday Night Football, images of them with other celebrities, an interview given together last year on CNN in which they spoke about the works of their charities.
But, the couple had never spoken about their relationship. This is what Sanchez, 53, has just done in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
"On a typical Saturday, we hang out, we have dinner with the kids, which is always fun because you never know where the conversation is going to go with this many kids. We are Brady Bunch," Sanchez said about life at home with Bezos.
She also revealed that Bezos, 59, makes pancakes on Sunday.
"Every Sunday morning, Jeff makes pancakes. He wakes up early. He gets the Betty Crocker cookbook out every time, and I’m like, 'OK, you’re the smartest man in the world; why don’t you have this memorized yet?' But he opens it up every time: Exact portions make the best pancakes in the world."
She told the Wall Street Journal that the billionaire is funny: "That he’s really funny? He makes me laugh all the time. He can be goofy."
When told that Bezos has a very distinctive laugh, Sanchez answered that it made her smile.
"When I first heard his laugh, I was like, 'Whoa! What is that?' Now I love it. And if I’m at a party and we get separated, all I have to do is wait a second and he laughs and it’s like, he’s over there. He’s so happy, he inspires me every day, he makes me a better person every day; he’s the most loving human I know."
They work out together, she revealed.
"He stole my trainer!” Sanchez smiled. "Jeff is extremely dedicated to his workouts. I mean, you have no idea. He really puts in the work.”
Biggest Business Advice
They live in a historic Beverly Hills house built by Hollywood founding father Jack Warner, which Bezos bought from media mogul David Geffen for a then-record-setting $165 million in 2020. They also have homes in Seattle and Washington, D.C.
She also talked about their working relationship. In the CNN interview last year, Bezos announced that he would give away the bulk of his wealth.
"Jeff has always told me, since I’ve known him, that he’s going to give the majority of his money to philanthropy," Sanchez said when asked about what types of conversation do the two of them have before making that decision.
"It’s the greatest experience I’ve ever had," she said about working with Bezos on philanthropy. "I’ve always had a career very separate from my partner. I think now that I can work with my partner and be with him all the time…. We love to be together and we love to work together. He’s helping me with the book. He’s getting his pilot’s license. We fly together. We work out together. We’re together all the time."
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And finally, she revealed the best business advice Bezos has ever given her.
"Living with Jeff is like having a master class every day. What he’s really taught me a lot about is management. Biggest pieces of advice? I hold a lot of meetings and I would talk first in a meeting and he goes, 'No, no, no. You’re the boss. You talk last. You let everyone else talk so that they don’t get swayed by your opinion.' Keep meetings under an hour if you can. I don’t know how he does it; he can read documents for hours."
"Another thing he taught me is: If you’re going to have a meeting, have the person running the meeting write a document about what you’re going to discuss and why. And it can’t be more than six pages."
Sanchez, who has three children, will be leading an all-female mission to outer space on Blue Origin by early 2024. Blue Origin is the aerospace company founded by Bezos, who himself went to space with his brother in 2021.
