May 4th, 2021 | Updated on April 18th, 2023
Billionaire benefactors Bill and Melinda Gates, co-founders of one of the world’s largest private charitable foundations, filed for divorce on May 3 after 27 years of marriage. However, the couple has pledged to continue their philanthropic work together.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has become one of the most powerful and influential forces in global public health.
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In a joint petition for dissolution of marriage, the couple asserted their legal union was “irretrievably broken.
Gates’ marital split follows Melinda’s long journey away from Bill’s shadow https://t.co/cFUDYUoFKX by @AlexandraUlmer pic.twitter.com/1gQMYJcujH
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 4, 2021
Bill Gates, 65, who co-founded Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), and his spouse, Melinda French Gates, 56, met after she joined the software giant as a product manager.
“After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage,” the two said in a joint statement posted on each of their individual Twitter accounts.
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) May 3, 2021
The couple wed in Hawaii in 1994, having first started their romance in 1987.
“We have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives,” the statement says. “We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives.”
Bill Gates is one of the richest people in the world. His net worth was $137 billion as of February, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranking.
In March 2020, Bill Gates stepped down from the boards of Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway.
Melinda Gates is also the founder of investment firm Pivotal Ventures, which confirmed the couple’s separation.
Seattle-based Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the most influential private foundation in the world, with an endowment worth nearly $50 billion.
“We have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives,” the statement says. “We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives.”
Bill Gates is one of the richest people in the world. His net worth was $137 billion as of February, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranking.
In March 2020, Bill Gates stepped down from the boards of Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway.
Melinda Gates is also the founder of investment firm Pivotal Ventures, which confirmed the couple’s separation.
Bill and Melinda welcomed their first child, Jennifer, now 25, two years after they married, and they went on to have two more children, a son, Rory, now 21, and a second daughter, Phoebe, now 18.
In 2005, Bill and Melinda were named Time’s Persons of The Year. The Irish rock star Bono was also named along with Gates as as Time magazine’s person or persons of the year award in 2005.
In 2019, Melinda released her book “The Moment Of Lft’ in which she talked about her childhood, life and personal struggles.
Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard University to start Microsoft with school chum Paul Allen in 1975.
Gates owned 49% of Microsoft at its initial public offering in 1986.
In 2015, Melinda founded Pivotal Ventures, an investment company focused on women.
As per Forbes, the Microsoft co-founder is fourth on the list of the world’s richest individuals with a net worth of $130.5 billion.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation had net assets of $43.3 billion at the end of 2019.
From 1994 through 2018, the couple gifted more than $36 billion to the Seattle-based foundation.
Barack Obama awarded Bill and Melinda Gates the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016 for their charity work.
Image Courtesy: BBC
“Bill and I are equal partners,” Melinda told the Associated Press in an interview in 2019. “Men and women should be equal at work.”
For Valentine’s Day in 2020, Bill Gates posted a photo on Instagram showing him standing with his arm around Melinda Gates.
