The clashes between Bill Gates and Melinda and the possible reasons for their divorce: money, power and feminism
Melinda Gates had already dropped in an autobiographical book that Bill was hardly at home.
Bill Gates, the fourth richest person in the world, gets divorced. The total fortune of the marriage amounts to 130,000 million dollars and the future of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a mystery. Both have assured that they will continue with their philanthropic work through the foundation, which has contributed 50,000 million dollars, money coming largely from donations from different governments, including that of Spain, to eradicate polio and malaria and investigate treatments and vaccines against the coronavirus, according to the organization, questioned by a high number of detractors of the tycoon and which is plagued by controversy, as collected by Libertad Digital.
The breakup is final and Melinda, according to the British newspaper Daily Mail, is clear that her marriage "is irretrievably broken." There is no way back. At 56 years old, Melinda has filed her petition for divorce from her husband this past Monday in the Superior Court of Washington, King County.
The Texan met Bill Gates in 1987, when she was working at Microsoft as a project manager and was sitting next to Gates at a business dinner. The couple later married in Lanai, Hawaii, in 1994 and had three children: Jennifer, 25, Rory, 21, and Phoebe, 18.
Both Bill and Melinda have posted the same statement on Twitter: "Over the past 27 years we have raised three amazing children and built a foundation that works around the world to enable all people to lead healthy and productive lives. We continue to share our belief in that mission and we will continue to work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe that we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives. We ask for space and privacy for our family as we begin to navigate this new life. "
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) May 3, 2021
The couple never signed a prenuptial agreement in the event of a divorce, so Bill and Melinda have hired two of the most powerful and acclaimed law firms in America to help with the divorce. She will be represented by a team of four New York-based attorneys from two independent firms: Cohen Clair Lane Griefer Thorpe & Rottenstreich LLP and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. In her husband's case, Bill will be defended by three attorneys from Los Angeles-based Munger Tolles & Olson. One of the attorneys, Charles T Munger, is a longtime partner of Bill's billionaire friend Warren Buffett. And there is a lot at stake. Part of his heritage includes property and land in five states, a private jet, an art collection, and a fleet of luxury vehicles.
Bill's absences
The reasons for the separation of the billionaires have not been made public, but, according to the main Anglo-Saxon newspapers, Melinda was fed up with Bill not being home at all, due to his workload. Or so he said. Certainly, the tycoon has been in recent years fully committed to his political agenda, reaching agreements with different governments, to ensure that the objectives of the 2030 Agenda are met, an agenda of which he is the author and promoter, together with his colleague, Klaus Swab, director of the World Economic Forum, among other multinational entrepreneurs and European, American and Chinese leaders.
Melinda has not requested spousal support, but did request a trial date in April 2022. Although the divorce is likely to be resolved without trial, according to the Daily Mail. However, she gives clues about the reasons for their separation when she publishes the 23 April 2019, "There is no turning back. The power of women to change the world", an autobiographical book in which she details aspects of her intimate life and advocates feminism.
The motives
The billionaire criticizes Bill's absences in her essay and questions the role of women in work environments. For her, women are not empowered and have unequal treatment of men, thus joining the bandwagon of the American #MeToo, despite the fact that she herself freely graduated as computer science and already held a high position at Microsoft in 1987.
In fact, Melinda is one of the richest women in the world ahead of millions of men on the planet, but she considers, according to her book, that in the West women are not on an equal footing. The billionaire defines herself on social media as a "businesswoman, global advocate in the defense of women and girls, co-director of the Gates Foundation and founder of Pivotal Ventures."
Her discussions with Bill have been in crescendo for several years and already in 2019, shortly after their 25th wedding anniversary, Melinda declared in an interview with The Sunday Times that "Bill was struggling to balance work with family." Furthermore, she dropped that they had deep disagreements and the tension between the two was growing. She admitted that they went through "very hard times", because she had to combine being the wife of a world icon with "her role as mother and housewife", something that is hard to believe due to the great domestic service that one of the richest couples in the world.
And although there is already speculation about how the marriage fortune will be divided, it should be noted that it is not the most expensive separation in history. That title goes to Jeff Bezos. The Amazon founder split his $ 150 billion fortune with his wife MacKenzie in 2019, after it was revealed that he was cheating on his wife with Lauren Sánchez, a Spanish-American journalist, television host and businesswoman.
Finally, and unlike Bezzos, what the couple does agree on is that they will dedicate at least half of their money to the Foundation and will continue to work together. However, she has already dropped that her professional career is going to be overturned with feminism. At the moment, the story to get a profit from her already has it mounted: ex-wife whom her husband of her billionaire ignored and left her alone in her mansion in charge of her children. Will we see her on the Oprah Winfrey show? Victimized a la Meghan Markle? Surely. At the time.
