Settlement: $1.2B
Cost/Day: $139K
The Formula 1 boss's split was the biggest in British legal history.
Bernie Ecclestone built Formula 1 into the global spectacle it became over decades, transforming what had been a loosely organised series of motor races into one of the world's most profitable sports franchises. Slavica Malic, a Croatian-born former model standing nearly a foot taller than Bernie, met him in the mid-1980s. They married in 1985 and had two daughters, Tamara and Petra, both of whom became tabloid fixtures in the UK for their extravagant lifestyles. The height difference between the pair made them one of the most visually distinctive couples in European society circles.
Ecclestone's fortune was built almost entirely through his control of Formula 1's commercial rights, which he had acquired and consolidated over decades. By negotiating lucrative broadcasting and sponsorship deals and expanding the sport's global reach, he turned a niche motorsport into a multi-billion-dollar enterprise. At the height of his power, Ecclestone was one of the most influential sports businessmen in the world.
Bernie and Slavica wed in July 1985, an unlikely but apparently stable pairing for over two decades. Slavica was the primary caregiver for their daughters while Bernie ran Formula 1's vast commercial operations. The couple announced their separation in 2008, and the divorce was finalised in March 2009 after proceedings that were, by the standards of a billion-pound case, relatively swift.
Slavica received an estimated $1.2 billion — a figure that made the divorce the largest in British legal history at the time. The settlement gave her a substantial share of the family's assets, including cash, property, and other holdings accumulated during their marriage. Bernie retained his operational role in Formula 1 and his business interests largely intact.
English matrimonial law, following landmark cases that had expanded judges' discretion in the years before the Ecclestone split, allowed for generous division of assets accumulated during long marriages. Slavica's lawyers successfully argued that her contribution to the family — raising their daughters, managing their homes, supporting Bernie's relentless business schedule — entitled her to a significant share of the fortune he had built.
Ecclestone retained his control of Formula 1's commercial rights following the divorce and remained the sport's dominant figure until Liberty Media acquired F1 in 2017 and began transitioning away from his management model. Slavica invested her settlement conservatively and largely stayed out of the limelight, unlike her daughters, who became synonymous with lavish spending.
The Ecclestone settlement held the British record for the largest divorce settlement for years. Internationally, it sat comfortably among the mega-settlements of the era, comparable to Harold Hamm's and significantly larger than most celebrity divorces. In British legal circles, the case is still cited as an example of how English courts approach the division of wealth in long marriages.
Bernie Ecclestone remarried in 2012, to a Brazilian businesswoman nearly sixty years his junior. He became a father again in his late eighties. His daughters Tamara and Petra became famous in the UK for their extraordinary spending, with Petra's California wedding reportedly costing over $10 million. Bernie himself later faced criminal prosecution in the UK over undeclared overseas assets — a reminder that his financial affairs were never straightforward.