Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife sealed the biggest divorce settlement in history earlier this week, after 25 years of marriage.

According to the deal, the 55-year-old Bezos will keep 75% of the couple's shares in Amazon, while MacKenzie will get $36 billion in shares. The 48-year-old novelist has relinquished all of her stakes in The Washington Post and the space exploration firm Blue Origin.

The settlement has made MacKenzie the third wealthiest woman in the world after L'Oreal heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers and Walmart's Alice Walton, according to Forbes magazine.

"Grateful to have finished the process of dissolving my marriage with Jeff with support from each other and everyone who reached out to us in kindness," MacKenzie Bezos wrote on Twitter.

"Happy to be giving him all of my interests in the Washington Post and Blue Origin, and 75% of our Amazon stock plus voting control of my shares to support his continued contributions with the teams of these incredible companies," MacKenzie Bezos affirmed.

"Excited about my own plans. Grateful for the past as I look forward to what comes next," she added.

For his part, Bezos hailed his ex-wife as "an extraordinary partner, ally, and mother", saying that "she is resourceful and brilliant and loving".

"As our futures unroll, I know I'll always be learning from her. I'm grateful for her support and for her kindness in this process and am very much looking forward to our new relationship as friends and co-parents," Bezos said.