MacKenzie Bezos’s divorce from Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN.O) founder Jeff Bezos could make her the world’s richest woman.

As of now, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, the granddaughter of the founder of cosmetics manufacturer L’Oreal SA, is the richest woman in the world, with a net worth of US$45.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the world’s 500 richest people.

Neither the Bezoses nor Amazon have commented on the likely division of the couple’s assets, including a 16 per cent stake in the company. But without an agreement stipulating otherwise, their wealth would almost certainly be divided equally, according to Karin Lundell, a partner at law firm Rower LLC in New York.

With US$137.2 billion, Jeff is the world’s richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index; an even split would make MacKenzie, an author, the richest woman with about US$69 billion. But even if she receives as little as 1 per cent of the fortune, she’d still join the three-comma club.

Most of the 66 women on the Bloomberg index came into their wealth through death or divorce. There are only six self-made women on the list, compared with 313 self-made men.

The Bezoses announced their breakup Wednesday in a tweet signed by both spouses.

--With assistance from Ben Steverman.