Craig and Wendy McCaw

McCaw Cellular founder. 1974–1997.

A cellphone fortune, split down the middle, and part of her half spent on a newspaper.

TL;DR

Married in 1974, a year after they graduated from Stanford. Divorced in 1997. (Wikipedia: Wendy McCaw)
Three years before the divorce, McCaw Cellular sold to AT&T for $11.5 billion. Her settlement is reported at more than $460 million. (Wikipedia: Craig McCaw; Wikipedia: List of most expensive divorces)
In 2000 she bought the Santa Barbara News-Press for $100 million. It filed for bankruptcy in July 2023. (Wikipedia: Wendy McCaw)

McCaw CellularFINAL 1997

1974–1997

$460M+

Reported, per Wikipedia’s divorce list. An estimate.

ceodivorcetracker.com/divorces/mccaw

The card is sized for a screenshot.

The marriage, scored like a season.

Per-day figures divide the settlement by the days married, approximate where the exact dates aren’t public. Household income: U.S. Census Bureau, Income in the United States: 2024, Sep 9, 2025. $1-bill thickness: Bureau of Engraving and Printing, currency facts (archived).

$11.5B

What AT&T paid for McCaw Cellular in 1994.

$100M

What she paid for the Santa Barbara News-Press in 2000, about a fifth of the reported settlement.

200 to 20

The News-Press staff, from her purchase to 2016.

No. 14 of 46 divorces with a reported price tag.

1974
Married. (Wikipedia: Wendy McCaw)
1994
McCaw Cellular sells to AT&T for $11.5 billion. (Wikipedia: Craig McCaw)
1997
Divorced. (Wikipedia: Craig McCaw)
2000
She buys the Santa Barbara News-Press. (Wikipedia: Wendy McCaw)
Jul 21, 2023
The News-Press files for bankruptcy and stops publishing. (Wikipedia: Wendy McCaw)

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