Bill and Melinda Gates: The Most Expensive Divorce in History?
After 27 years of marriage, Bill and Melinda Gates divorce. The influential billionaire couple at the head of the world's largest private foundation each announced the news on their Twitter account.
In the divorce petition, the couple said their marriage was "irretrievably broken." Bill and Melinda Gates will remain co-chairs of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and they will continue to work together to strategize the foundation and set its direction, according to a spokesperson.
The news of the divorce of the most influential couple on the international scene leaves several questions unanswered about their fortunes. It is not known how the couple will divide their property or whether they signed a marriage contract, but given the size of their fortune, the divorce is likely to be one of the biggest in history. Bill Gates, who co-founded Microsoft in 1975, is worth $ 130.5 billion, making him the fourth richest person in the world, according to Forbes. The billionaire became the richest person in the world, with a fortune of $ 12.9 billion, in 1995, a year after his marriage to Melinda. According to the divorce petition, Bill and Melinda Gates are currently separated and have signed a contract that dictates how the couple will manage their finances when living apart. They asked the court to divide their property based on the terms of the separation contract, but details of the contract were not disclosed. The divorce application does not mention a marriage contract, but that does not mean that they do not have one, since they do not have to disclose everything in the application.
To complicate matters further, Washington state, where Bill and Melinda Gates reside, is a community of property state. This means that all property acquired by either party during the marriage is considered common and generally divided equally at the time of divorce in the absence of a marriage contract. However, the parties can agree to divide their assets in a "fair and equitable" manner, which can result in settlements that are not necessarily evenly divided, Janet George, a divorce lawyer at the United Kingdom, told Forbes. McKinley Irvin law firm in Washington. Take the example of Jeff Bezos and his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott. The founder of the online sales giant has given his ex-wife a quarter of her stake in Amazon. If Bill and Melinda Gates decided to share their fortune equally, then Melinda Gates' fortune would be $ 65.25 billion, more than MacKenzie Scott, whose fortune is $ 59.8 billion. (MacKenzie Scott donated $ 5.8 billion to several charities last year).
Forbes has compiled a list of the most expensive billionaire divorces in history, at least when the details of the divorce leaked. In some cases, such as the separation between Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki, the amount of the agreement is not known because the divorce papers were sealed.
So here are the five biggest divorces of billionaires, in descending order.
# 1. Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott: at least $ 35 billion
The couple met while they both worked for hedge fund D.E. Shaw in New York City. After the move to Seattle, MacKenzie Scott helped Jeff Bezos get Amazon off the ground. In April 2019, they announced the terms of their divorce: MacKenzie Scott received 4% of the outstanding shares of Amazon. At the time, those shares were worth over $ 35 billion. Now those shares are worth much more as Amazon stock has risen nearly 75% since 2019. Jeff Bezos has retained all of Blue Origin and the Washington Post. After the divorce, MacKenzie Scott remarried in March 2021. She became the third richest woman in the world.
# 2. Bill and Sue Gross: $ 1.3 billion
The rather chaotic separation of the Gross couple did not only make people happy. In 2016, Sue Gross filed for divorce from her husband, the founder of asset management company Pimco. After the divorce, she walked away with a fortune of $ 1.3 billion. That amount included a $ 36 million house in Laguna Beach and a painting attributed to Picasso, which was subsequently sold for $ 35 million. Bill Gross tried to keep one of their three cats, but his ex-wife eventually got custody. In addition, Bill Gross lost his place in the Forbes 400 ranking in 2018, after 14 consecutive years in the ranking.
# 3. Harold Hamm and Sue Ann Arnall: $ 975 million
After three years of fierce legal proceedings, oil mogul Harold Hamm attempted in 2015 to end his 26-year marriage to Sue Ann Arnall (without a marriage contract) by signing her a check for a amount of $ 974,790,317.77 from his Morgan Stanley account. Sue Ann Arnall deposited this check first but then changed her mind and decided she wanted more and filed a lawsuit to get a larger share of her $ 13.7 billion fortune. mari, linked to his 75% stake in the listed company Continental Resources. In April 2015, the Oklahoma Supreme Court put an end to this saga by granting Harold Hamm's petition. The Supreme Court said Sue Ann Arnall accepted the settlement by signing and depositing the check. Sue Ann Arnall subsequently funded a political action committee that succeeded in ousting the judge who presided over the divorce.
# 4. Steve and Elaine Wynn: $ 850 million
The co-founders of the Wynn Resorts casino chain divorced (for the second time) in 2010. The deal called for Elaine Wynn, a member of the Wynn Resorts board since 2002, to receive 11 million shares, of which the value was then estimated at $ 795 million. Meanwhile, Steve Wynn sold $ 114 million in shares that year, some if not all of which went to his ex-wife as part of the divorce deal. Elaine Wynn then sued Wynn Resorts in 2012 to sell part of its 9% stake. She was kicked off the board three years later.
After Steve Wynn stepped down as CEO and chairman in February 2018 amid charges of sexual harassment, he sold all of his shares. Elaine Wynn, whose fortune currently stands at $ 2.3 billion, is the largest individual shareholder of Wynn Resorts.
# 5. Roy E. and Patricia Disney: $ 600 million
Roy E. Disney and his wife filed for divorce in 2007, after 52 years of marriage. Roy E. Disney, a nephew of Walt Disney, was worth about $ 1.3 billion at the time. While previously on the Forbes 400 chart, he lost nearly half of his fortune in divorce and was struck off the list. In 2008, he married writer and producer Leslie DeMeuse. He died a year later. His ex-wife, Patricia Disney, died in 2012. A family foundation, with assets of $ 122 million (as of 2018) and bearing both names, supports many environmental and economic causes.
Editor's note, May 4, 2021: This article has been updated with details on Bill and Melinda Gates' divorce petition.
