Bill and Melinda Gates announce their divorce
The couple had been married for 27 years and run the world's largest $ 50 billion foundation. This should continue to operate in health and education. The Microsoft co-founder is at the head of a personal fortune estimated at nearly 130 billion dollars.
The news has the world of business and philanthropy in turmoil. Melinda and Bill Gates announced their divorce on Monday, after 27 years together. “Over the past 27 years, we have raised three amazing children and built a foundation that works around the world to empower people to lead healthy and productive lives,” they said in a statement posted on Twitter.
They were also reassuring about the future of this foundation, which has invested nearly $ 55 billion in health and education, across the world, since 2000 - and more than $ 1 billion in the fight. against the Covid. “We continue to share a faith in this mission and we will continue to work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe that we are able to grow together, as a couple, in this next stage of our life,” they said.
Questions about the foundation
The announcement, however, is expected to raise questions about the future of the foundation, which is to receive most of Bill Gates' fortune. In 2010, the Gates and Warren Buffett had created Giving Pledge, an organization to which 40 personalities, among the richest in the United States, had joined. They had pledged to donate at least half of their fortune to philanthropic works, or about $ 600 billion.
Bill Gates, 65, now has the fourth largest fortune in the world according to "Forbes". It's estimated at $ 130 billion and the Microsoft co-founder has yet to donate half of his assets. Last year, he left the board of directors of Microsoft and that of Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate of his friend Warren Buffett, to be able to devote more time to his founding. He also transferred $ 35.8 billion in shares to his foundation and now retains 1% of Microsoft.
The previous Bezos
Melinda French Gates, a former Microsoft executive who left the company in 1996 two years after her marriage to Bill Gates, has been heavily involved in several causes, such as health and gender equality. The couple asked on Twitter for "space and privacy."
This separation follows that of another American billionaire, Jeff Bezos, two years ago. The Amazon founder had announced his divorce from MacKenzie Scott and, following the agreement reached, had recovered 75% of his shares and his ex-wife's voting rights in Amazon, as well as all of his stakes in the "Washington Post" and Blue Origin. His former wife had retained a stake in Amazon estimated at the time at $ 36 billion.
