Mccaws’ Divorce Settled, With $2 Billion At Stake

Craig and Wendy McCaw have divorced after more than two years of haggling over how to split a fortune estimated at $2 billion.

McCaw is the founder of family-owned McCaw Cellular, which was sold to AT&T in 1994 for $11.5 billion.

The closure of the high-stakes divorce case was announced Friday by Craig McCaw’s investment company.

The McCaws reached an “amicable agreement” and will continue as co-investors in several businesses, the announcement said. Experts say it is the most money ever at stake in a divorce in Washington state.

Details of the settlement were kept confidential, and both sides declined comment, except to issue a joint statement that, “Mr. and Mrs. McCaw are private individuals who continue to share a deep respect for each other.”

Craig McCaw, listed by Forbes magazine as the 72nd richest American, is chairman of Teledesic, a privately held Kirkland company proposing to launch roughly 300 communications satellites by 2002. McCaw and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates are majority investors.

The McCaws, who have no children, separated after 21 years because of personal differences.

Washington is a community property state, meaning that any property earned after a couple is married is presumed to be owned by both people.

Craig McCaw, who initiated the divorce, had indicated in legal documents that much of the $2 billion fortune should be considered his.