Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie Bezos are divorcing after 25 years of marriage, the couple announced in a joint statement on Twitter.

Mr and Mrs Bezos first met while working together at a New York hedge fund in the early 1990s and have been together since as Amazon's valuation briefly swelled beyond $1 trillion last year, raising the prospect that a settlement could make her the world's richest woman.

With a personal stake in Amazon estimated to be worth $160bn (£125bn), Mr Bezos, 54, is the world’s wealthiest man. Although the separation is amicable, their separation is likely to prove to be a highly lucrative one for an army of lawyers and advisers.

The couple married in 1993, one year before Mr Bezos started Amazon from his garage in Seattle.

As well as his shareholding in Amazon, Bezos owns a string of other investments as well as homes in Seattle, Washington DC, Beverly Hills, New York and a Gulfstream jet.

Their divorce settlement is likely to be the most expensive in history and may reshape the global wealth rankings.

If the pair file for divorce in Washington, the state where the pair were married and Amazon is headquartered, half of Mr Bezos' wealth could go to his wife under the state's community property law unless there is a pre-nuptial agreement in place.