Bill Gates and Melinda Gates say they are getting divorced after 27 years of marriage, saying “we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple”.
“After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage,” the pair wrote on Twitter.
The multi-billionaire and co-founder of Microsoft made the announcement on Twitter, saying he and Melinda will continue to work together at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is the world’s largest charitable foundation.
The two met in the late 1980s when Melinda joined Bill’s Microsoft firm. They have three children. They jointly run the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The organisation has spent billions fighting causes such as infectious diseases and encouraging vaccinations in children.
The Gates’ – along with investor Warren Buffett – are behind the Giving Pledge, which calls on billionaires to commit to giving away the majority of their wealth to good causes.
Bill Gates is the fourth wealthiest person in the world, according to Forbes.
Financial details are not yet clear. Bill Gates owns 1.37% of Microsoft’s outstanding shares, which are worth more than $26 billion, according to FactSet. The couple were creators, along with Warren Buffett, of the Giving Pledge, which involves giving away more than half of their wealth.
Who is Melinda Gates?
According to Wikipedia Melinda Ann Gates (née French; born August 15, 1964) is an American philanthropist and a former general manager at Microsoft. In 2000, she and her husband Bill Gates co-founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s largest private charitable organization as of 2015.
Through the foundation, she led an early 21st century vaccination campaign which significantly contributed to the eradication of the wild poliovirus in Africa. Gates has consistently been ranked as one of the world’s most powerful women by Forbes.
Melinda began dating Microsoft CEO Bill Gates in 1987, after meeting him at a trade fair in New York. In 1994, she married Gates in a private ceremony held in Lanai, Hawaii.
They have three children: Jennifer, Phoebe and Rory Gates. The family resides in Xanadu 2.0, an earth-sheltered mansion overlooking Lake Washington in Medina, Washington. The family also owns an oceanfront residence in Del Mar, California.
Gates and her husband were suggested as possible vice-presidential picks in the 2016 United States presidential election, according to a reportedly hacked email published by WikiLeaks from Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta.
In 2021, Gates and her husband announced that they had decided to divorce following 27 years of marriage.
Bill and Melinda Gates announce divorce
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