The billionaires filed for divorce on Monday Invoice and Melinda Gates, co-founders of one of the world’s largest charities. Their path as a couple separates after 27 years marriage, however, they commit themselves to continue their charitable work together.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is one of the largest and most influential public health forces in the world, spending more than $ 50 billion over the last 20 years in the fight against poverty and disease.
Gates has supported programs to eradicate malaria and polio, feed children and vaccines. Last year, the foundation provided $ 1.75 billion for the relief of the effects of covid-19.
In a joint statement on the dissolution of their marriage, they stated that their union has been irreparably damaged but also that they have reached an agreement. as to how they will separate their assets. However, no further details were given in the petition filed in Seattle’s King County Superior Court.
Gates, 65, co-founder of Microsoft, and his wife, 56, Melinda Franz Gates, met at a corporate dinner in New York when she became a member of the tech giant as a product manager. They went out for years, before getting married in January 1994 in Hawaii.
“After much thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we decided to end our marriage,” the couple said in a statement posted on their Twitter accounts.
“We no longer believe that we can move forward as a couple in the next phase of our lives. “We are asking for space and privacy for our family as we begin to move forward in this new life,” they wrote.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was started in 2000 and is the largest private charity in the US and one of the largest in the world, with $ 43.3 billion in assets at the end of 2019.
From 1994 to 2018, the couple donated more than $ 36 billion to the foundation, according to Reuters.
“No change in roles”
In the divorce petition, the couple asks the court to dissolve their marriage and share their property and all property assets “as described in the divorce contract”, which however has not been made known.
THE Gates is ranked 4th on the Forbes list of the richest people in the world, with a fortune of at least $ 124 billion – there are reports of $ 130 billion.
In a separate announcement, the Gates Foundation said that Bill and Melinda will remain co-chairs of the foundation.
“They will continue to work together to shape and approve our financing strategies, to take a stand on issues concerning the institution and to chart its overall direction “.
“Gates divorce will not just end a family life. “It will have an impact on business, education, public health, civil society, charity and beyond,” Anand Giridharadas, author of Winners Take All, told Reuters. “This is because our society has made the colossal mistake of allowing wealth to buy the opportunity to make almost government decisions as private citizens.”
Gates left Harvard to start Microsoft with his classmate Paul Allen in 1975. He owned 49% of Microsoft in 1986, making him a multimillionaire. With the explosive growth of the company, it soon became one of the richest people in the world.
In 2000, Gates resigned as CEO of Microsoft to focus on his philanthropic work. He remained chairman until 2014 and finally left the company’s board for good in 2020.
In the technological field is known as a ruthless competitor, provoking the wrath of his rivals and eventually the US government for the company’s business practices.
In the late 1990s the tech giant was convicted of monopoly practices, but the verdict was overturned as the company settled the matter out of court.
Melinda Franz Gates, who recently added her parent page to her websites and social media, grew up in Dallas and studied computer science and economics at Duke University before joining Microsoft.
In 2015 she founded Pivotal Ventures, an investment company focusing on women and families, and in 2019 she published her book “The Moment of Lift”.
The episode of 2013
When Melinda Gates asked her husband to write the 2013 annual letter for their foundation, their discussion turned into a quarrel.
“Spirits lit up,” Melinda wrote in her book. “Bill said the annual letter process worked well for years and he did not see why it should change.”
Eventually she agreed to write a separate piece on contraceptives, while he wrote the basic text for the foundation’s work. In her 2014 letter, Melinda wrote about one of the three myths that “hinder the growth of the poor” while Bill wrote about the other two. In 2015, they both signed the annual letter.
“He needed to learn how to work with equality“I also learn how to raise my height to be equal” wrote Melinda.
Melinda Gates’s long journey out of the shadow of Bill is expected to enter a new phase with the announcement of their divorce.
“People are finally recognizing the fact that none of us can move forward if half of us are left behind. The facts are clear: dynamic women are transforming societies, “she wrote in a note to her book.
The assets
Bill Gates is the fourth richest man in the world with a fortune of 130.5 billion dollars, according to Forbes.
The Gates Foundation closed in 2019 with $ 43.3 billion.
The couple, who have three children, own a $ 130.8 million mansion on Lake Washington.
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