Bill and Melinda Gates: How Money Ends a Marriage

Bill Gates and his wife recently divorced after 27 years of marriage. Bill Gates is one of the richest philanthropists in the world and is known for being the co-founder of Microsoft, one of the biggest technology companies in the world. People all over the globe were shocked, wondering what  they’re going to do with their fortune of $124 billion, and with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which has a $50 billion endowment.

Bill and Melinda met at Microsoft when Bill was the CEO. Melinda was a marketing manager for multimedia productions. They began dating in 1987 and got married in 1994. They since have moved to Seattle and had 3 kids. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation began in 2000 and has become the world’s largest private charitable organization. The foundation focuses primarily on public health, education, and climate change. Its grants include some $1.75B to vaccine initiatives and research during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Gates have put in more than $36B into the foundation between 1994 and 2018.

The pair still hasn’t came out with a reason as to why they are getting divorced, merely releasing a statement saying, “We no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in the next phase of our lives.” They were very unclear with their specific reason why.

On May 16, a few stories from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal revealed questionable behavior that worried people around Bill Gates. The New York Times said that Bill Gates had pursued women that worked at Microsoft and at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Wall Street Journal said that an affair was brought to the Microsoft board of directors in 2019 before Bill Gates stepped down in 2020. Microsoft confirmed this 2 years ago.