News of Bill and Melinda Gates' decision to divorce after 27 years of marriage has shocked
many across the globe. The philanthropic couple announced the end of their marriage in a statement
via Twitter. Microsoft founder and former CEO Bill was the one to tweet out the statement
late on the afternoon of May 3rd, 2021.
The statement read,
"After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the
decision to end our marriage. Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible
children and built a foundation that works all over the world ... but we no longer believe
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."
The truly vigilant might have picked up on signs of a rift before the divorce announcement.
As Reuters points out, Melinda added her maiden name, "French," to websites and social media
accounts tied to her.
Naturally, the news of their divorce has sparked intrigue into the couple's amassed financial
state. According to Forbes, Bill is worth $124 billion and with it started the World's
largest private charitable foundation. In 2000, the couple founded the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation and in the two decades since, the organization has spent $53.8 billion on
various philanthropic pursuits in the areas of the environment, global health, and more.
A former Gates Foundation employee told The New York Times that news of the divorce shook
the foundation, as staff sent out a flurry of emails and texts. Many of the organization's
1,600 staff members wondered what future strategy and plan meetings might look like in the divorce's
aftermath.
Author and journalist Anand Giridharadas told Reuters,
"The Gates divorce will do more than upend a family's life. It will ramify into the worlds
of business, education, public health, civil society, philanthropy, and beyond."
The couple first met in 1987 at a Microsoft dinner conference for employees. In an interview
with Salesforce, Melinda recalled arriving at the dinner at the urging of her roommate.
She took the second to last empty seat in the room, with Bill shuffling in and sitting
beside her 15 minutes later. She said,
"I could sense that he was interested. It took him quite a few months before he asked
me out."
The two were married in 1994 in Hawaii. They share three children: 25-year-old Katharine,
21-year-old Rory, 18-year-old Phoebe.
Documents obtained by ABC News suggest that it was Melinda Gates who originally filed
the divorce petition. Bill and Melinda Gates' petition for divorce reads that,
"This marriage is irretrievably broken."
Of the six lawyers that the former couple has hired to represent them through the proceedings,
Robert Cohen is one of the attorneys representing Melinda Gates. Cohen represented Michael Bloomberg,
Uma Thurman, and Ivana Trump, among other high-profile clients, in their divorce proceedings.
While TMZ reports that the couple did not have a prenup, Bill and Melinda have already
come to an agreement about how to split their assets. No further details about the agreement
have been revealed, to date.
In the immediate aftermath of the news, The Gates Foundation has attempted to calm fears
of what the couple's divorce might mean for its future. A statement released read,
"[Bill and Melinda Gates] will continue to work together to shape and approve foundation
strategies, advocate for the foundation's issues, and set the organization's overall
direction.”
Internally, too, Gates Foundation Chief Executive Mark Suzman sent an email to employees to
quell fears. The email read in part,
"While this is obviously a difficult time of personal change for our co-chairs, together
they have assured me of their continued commitment to the foundation that they have worked so
hard to build together over the past 20 years."
Suzman also notified employees that there might be "some short-term adjustments" to
Bill and Melinda Gates' schedules as divorce proceedings move forward.
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