Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and the world's richest man, is to pay $38bn (£29bn) to settle the divorce with his wife of nearly 26 years, MacKenzie Bezos.

A judge is expected to rubber-stamp the world's most expensive divorce settlement this week, confirming an agreement which will see Ms Bezos, taking a four per cent stake in the online shopping behemoth.

The couple, who have four children, married in 1993, before Mr Bezos set up Amazon from his garage in Seattle.

Ms Bezos, 49, who will become the world's fourth richest woman, has promised she will hand over at least half the settlement to charity.

She announced her intention to make a massive donation in a blog on a website set up by The Giving Pledge, an organisation founded by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, which encourages the super-rich to devote more than half their wealth to philanthropic causes.