Amazon's Bezos finalizes divorce as Mackenzie receives nearly $55 billion to make her the 22nd richest person in the world

Mackenzie Bezos is now the 22nd richest person in the world thanks to a $55 billion divorce settlement.

Amazon oligarch Jeff Bezos is officially splitsville from his longtime wife MacKenzie after a Washington State judge signed off on the divorce, according to Bloomberg.

The arrangement leaves MacKenzie with 19.7 million shares of Amazon.com valued at more than $US38 billion, the tabloid reported.

Despite parting with billions, Jeff will comfortably remain the world’s richest person, while the divorce settlement makes MacKenzie 22nd on Bloomberg’s Billionaire’s Index.

The two married long before Amazon’s 1993 creation. Together they have four children.

But the union collapsed after news emerged in January that Jeff had been allegedly cheating on his wife with former television anchor Lauren Sanchez.

The story exploded into the public eye after racy text messages between the two were published by multiple media outlets, including the National Enquirer. “I love you, alive girl. I will show you with my body, and my lips and my eyes, very soon,” the Amazon boss wrote her last April.

Bezos later published an open letter on Medium accusing American Media, the parent company of the National Enquirer, of trying to blackmail him.

In May, Mackenzie pledged to donate half her wealth to charity.

Last year Bezos launched a new charity organisation the Bezos Day One Fund, though critics argue that the world’s richest man could be far more generous with his wealth.