After 27 years of marriage, Bill and Melinda Gates announce their divorce
Billionaire Bill Gates, fourth fortune in the world, announced on Twitter this Monday, May 3, his divorce from Melinda Gates, after 27 years together.
The American billionaire Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, and his wife Melinda Gates announced this Monday, May 3, their divorce after 27 years of marriage. "After careful consideration and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage," the couple, who reside in Washington state, wrote in a joint statement.
“Over the past 27 years, we have raised three amazing children and created a foundation [the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation] that operates around the world and enables people to live fulfilling and productive lives,” they explain. Bill and Melinda Gates, who have been involved in the fight against poverty and disease for 20 years, say they would continue to "work together" within their foundation but that they "no longer believed that they could grow together as a couple".
Bill Gates, 65, and his wife, 56, pleaded with the audience to give their families the "space and privacy" they need to be able to "begin to adjust to this new life", without specifying the reasons. urged them to separate.
Fourth world fortune
The businessman is, according to the latest Forbes ranking, the fourth richest man in the world, with a fortune estimated at 124 billion dollars. It places him behind two other Americans, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk and Frenchman Bernard Arnault, and ahead of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Bill Gates, who made his fortune thanks to Microsoft, had resigned as president in 2014 to devote himself today mainly to philanthropy.
Solicited by many leaders, he has made multiple interventions since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, against which his foundation has spent more than a billion dollars, according to the New York Times. This visibility has made him a frequent target of conspiracy theories on social networks.
The foundation he created with his wife is considered the largest private foundation in the world. It has spent some $ 53 billion in 20 years and employs nearly 1,600 people, according to its official website.
