Hypothetical: If Sergey Brin and Larry Page were to end their co-founder partnership, would journalists describe the settlement as Page giving Brin x% of Google / Brin feeling grateful to walk away with x% of Google?
And, yet, we see such statements in the news about Mackenzie-Jeff Bezos divorce (e.g. Forbes – “Jeff Bezos To Give MacKenzie 25% Of His Amazon Stake”). Many have responded sharing stories of how Mackenzie Bezos supported Amazon in the early days. But, that’s still beside the point.
Even if she wasn’t an early employee of Amazon (she was), even if she didn’t play a key support role in the early days (she did), she is no different from a co-founder of any venture that involved Jeff Bezos.
The only plausible explanation for this sort of coverage is that the reporters who frame this as Mackenzie walking away with 25% of Amazon don’t have partners or kids. If they did, they’d know that any and all success within the family is a the result of everyone pitching in – with the partner contributing the lion’s share.
I get that we love the hero’s (often solitary) journey. Life, however, is a team sport.
