Lululemon Athletica Inc. founder Chip Wilson and his wife and longtime business partner, Shannon “Summer” Wilson, are reportedly divorcing after more than two decades of marriage.
A family legal proceeding between the couple was filed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia in April, though the contents of the case are not publicly accessible, Bloomberg reported.
Bloomberg, citing a person familiar with the matter, also reported that there is no prenuptial agreement between the couple, though it remains unclear how the divorce could affect the division of their assets.
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Lululemon and Chip Wilson could not immediately be reached by FOX Business for comment.
Chip Wilson, 71, founded Vancouver-based Lululemon in 1998, according to Bloomberg.
He is widely credited with helping pioneer the athleisure apparel market.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Chip Wilson has an estimated net worth of roughly $6.1 billion.
Summer Wilson, 52, served as the company’s founding lead designer, according to her website. Chip Wilson has previously credited her with playing a key role in building the brand during its early years, Bloomberg reported.
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The couple married in 2002.
Though both left the company more than a decade ago, Chip Wilson remains one of Lululemon’s largest shareholders and has continued to publicly weigh in on the retailer’s direction, Bloomberg reported.
He owns roughly 8.6% of the company, a stake worth just under $1 billion, while Summer Wilson owns nearly 1%, valued at about $100 million, according to Bloomberg.
Under British Columbia law, assets owned before a marriage generally remain excluded from division, while any increase in their value during the marriage is generally considered family property and is typically divided equally.
“In British Columbia, the value of assets brought into the marriage is not shareable, but the gain is called family property and presumptively divided 50-50,” Lorne MacLean KC, founder of Vancouver-based MacLean Law, told The New York Post.
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The Wilsons’ reported split joins a number of high-profile billionaire divorces in recent years.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott finalized their divorce in 2019. Scott received a roughly 4% stake in Amazon, then valued at about $36 billion, BBC News reported at the time.
In 2021, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates divorced after 27 years. Following the announcement, Bill Gates transferred billions of dollars in stock to Melinda French Gates, according to Vanity Fair.
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