Billionaire’s actions rarely fail to make news and when it comes to their divorce it is big news as it often impacts the functioning of large corporations. The billionaire marriages or most expensive weddings in recent times often have a prenuptial agreement so that in case of divorce the separation is clean with no impact on the businesses they own. However, if you remember Ivana had trumped Donald by disputing the prenuptial agreement and managed to get multiple properties and annual alimony. This year we could see the biggest divorce settlement ever as another prenuptial agreement has been challenged to make the billionaire divorce messy and ugly. This is definitely not going to be routine divorce that could be handled by the Divorce Hotel but the career changing event like the Tiger Woods divorce.
Sue Ann Hamm, His Wife of 25 Years Filed for Divorce Last Year
The Oklahoma oil mogul Harold Hamm who holds the majority stake in the oil giant Continental Resources is estimated to be worth $11.3 billion by Forbes’ 2013 World’s Billionaire list. The biggest player in the booming Bakken shale region of North Dakota is facing a potentially tough fight with his second wife, lawyer and economist Sue Ann Hamm who filed for divorce last year. She blames Hamm for cheating on her and if she claims half of what he owns then he might end up loosing control of Continental Resources, the company he founded in 1967. According to a report carried by Reuters the settlement could be worth over $5 billion which would make it the biggest divorce settlement ever.
Amidst Rumors of Divorce the Continental Stocks Dipped 3%
The rumors about the impending divorce have impacted the stock prices of Continental adversely which dipped 3% at last week’s closing. The couple has been married for 25 years during which Sue Ann has worked as an executive at Continental. In fact she is credited for creating the oil and gas marketing unit in the company. The Oklahoma divorce laws call for equitable distribution in such matters which allows the court some discretion in deciding what is fair. Amongst speculation of adverse impact on Continental the company released a brief statement claiming that the development will have no influence on its performance. However they did not return calls to comment on the matter. This could become a learning experience for billionaires as there are cases where a watertight prenuptial agreement ensures that the divorce is settled for less than 2% of the overall wealth.
