In this week's edition of "News That No One Saw Coming," Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates
and his wife, Melinda Gates, announced that they were divorcing after 27 years of marriage.
A joint statement posted to Bill Gates' Twitter account read,
"After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the
decision to end our marriage. We continue to share a belief in that mission and will
continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together
as a couple in this next phase of our lives."
Immediately after news of the couple's impending divorce broke, many people wondered what will
happen to Bill's impressive fortune -- he's one of the richest people in the world with
a net worth of about $130 billion. According to divorce papers obtained by TMZ, the couple
doesn't have a prenup. Now, as more and more details about the divorce unfold, the world's
finding out that they don't know Bill as well as they thought they did. Take, for example,
the resurfaced reports published by Fox News that Bill used to take solo vacations with
his ex-girlfriend, Ann Winblad, while married to Melinda. And then consider the fact that
he asked for Winblad's approval before tying the knot.
That’s not the only thing you may not have known about Bill. According to The Land Report,
Bill and Melinda Gates own approximately 270,000 acres of land across America, making them
the biggest farmland owners in the country. Per an investigation by the outlet, of that
land the former couple collectively own around 242,000 acres of farmland. By means of comparison,
Statista compiled data that says that the average farm size in the United States is
444 acres, which means that Bill and Melinda own land for, roughly 545 farms. They also
own 25,750 acres of transitional land, and 1,234 acres of recreational land across 19
states, including California, Wisconsin, Oregon, Florida, and more. Their ownership varies
drastically from state to state -- In Louisiana, the former couple owns over 69,000 acres of
land. In New Mexico, they own just one acre.
If you’re wondering what Bill and Melinda intend to do with their land acquisitions,
Bill addressed that to a degree to Reddit users in a March 2021 Ask Me Anything session,
"My investment group chose to do this. It is not connected to climate. The agriculture
sector is important. With more productive seeds we can avoid deforestation and help
Africa deal with the climate difficulty they already face. It is unclear how cheap biofuels
can be but if they are cheap it can solve the aviation and truck emissions."
The Gates Foundation's agriculture initiative, Gates Ag One, also professes to be a proponent
of sustainable farming strategies.
Social media users had a lot to say about the Gates' secret life as farmland owners,
with one Twitter user commenting,
"Bill Gates buying all the farmland, if he really wanted to empower people he should
start a program offering people living in urban s---holes to transition to a more wholesome
and agrarian life centered around regenerative farming."
Another social media user who was skeptical of Bill's farmland intentions added that they
found it strange that media outlets were focusing on the Gates' divorce, rather than the impact
that farming has on the United States.
A third, skeptical Twitter user suggested,
"Nobody stops to ask 'What if Bill Gates got into the farmland game bc previous generations
of landowners already made US farmland the world's best vehicle for tax avoidance.”
Twitter concern about the Gates' vast landholdings was articulated, again, in a The Guardian
op-ed, which asked: regardless of the Gates' intentions, shouldn't we all be freaking out
at their "monopolistic" control over our means of producing food? While Bill and Melinda
Gates may not have signed a prenup, BBC reports that they did sign a "separation contract"
before filing divorce papers. In it, they agreed to split assets. Included in the contract,
presumably, are their vast landholdings, although no details as to who gets what have been publicly
disclosed.
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