Bill Gates
doesn't tweet a lot, so when he fires one off you know it's a big deal.
Yesterday, the business icon and his wife, Melinda, a legendary
philanthropist, announced they were ending their marriage after 27 years.
Bill and
Melinda were the kind of couple you knew just by their first names. The
two met in 1987 at Microsoft, which Bill cofounded, got married seven
years later, and in 2000 launched the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
According to some accounts, it's the largest private foundation in the
world, with more than $51 billion in assets.
- The
foundation is dedicated to addressing global healthcare issues,
improving early childhood education, and lifting people out of hunger
and extreme poverty.
- It poured in more than $1 billion to help fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
What will happen with the foundation? In a joint statement, Bill and Melinda said
they 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."
And the money?
More
questions than answers. With a net worth of about $145 billion, Bill
Gates is the fourth-richest person in the world. And he still owns almost 1.4% of Microsoft's outstanding shares, which are worth more than $26 billion, per FactSet data cited by CNBC.
- Bill and
Melinda have pledged to donate more than half of their fortune as part
of the Giving Pledge, which they helped create with Warren Buffett in
2010.
Zoom out: Bill
and Melinda are the second Seattle-area power couple to get divorced in
recent years. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos split with his wife MacKenzie Scott
in 2019 after 25 years of marriage. MacKenzie, who received a 4% stake
in Amazon worth more than $36 billion, has since remarried and doubled
down on philanthropic efforts during Covid-19.
Bottom line: Bill
and Melinda's split is a shocker, and because of their immense wealth
and influence it'll certainly ripple through the highest business and
philanthropic circles.
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