Melinda Gates will STAY with the Gates Foundation and work alongside ex-husband Bill Gates – despite agreeing to resign after their divorce
- Melinda French Gates and Bill Gates finalized their divorce in August 2021: they had created their foundation in 2000, and overseen spending of $53.8 billion
- At the time of their divorce, she said she would continue working with their foundation for two years, and then reassess
- On Friday, the CEO of the foundation told The Wall Street Journal that she would continue working with the foundation, rather than branching out alone
Melinda French Gates has decided to keep working with her ex-husband at the foundation they created together over 20 years ago, the CEO of the charity has confirmed.
French Gates, 58, and the Microsoft co-founder Bill finalized their divorce in August 2021 after 27 years of marriage.
At the time, French Gates said she would continue working with the Gates Foundation for two years, and then decide whether to branch out on her own or keep working with the Seattle-based charity.
On Friday, a spokesman for the Gates Foundation confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that she had decided to keep working within the organization.
Melinda French Gates, 58, has decided that she will continue working with the foundation she created with her ex-husband, Bill Gates
Bill and Melinda Gates finalized their divorce in August 2021 after 27 years of marriage
The Gates Foundation was created in 2000, and since then has spent $58.8 billion on issues such as education in the developing world, microfinance, providing clean water, and access to vaccines.
French Gates’s decision had been expected: in June, the CEO of the Gates Foundation, Mark Suzman, said that Bill and Melinda are ‘both fully committed to the foundation, as they always have been and continue to be.’
He added: ‘Every major decision is made by both co-chairs, and will continue to be.’
In September last year, she said she had no intention of leaving.
‘I founded this institution, my values are baked into this institution,’ she said.
French Gates in December told The Wall Street Journal she felt she had pushed the Gates Foundation to spend more on gender equality initiatives.
The charitable foundation, which has given more than $71 billion in grants, committed $2.1 billion in 2021 to advance gender equality over five years, the paper reported.
Melinda French Gates said she has moved their foundation to focus more on gender equity initiatives
French Gates is seen in a visit to Asia
Bill and Melinda Gates are seen visiting the township of Khayelitsha on the outskirts of Cape Town in October 2019
The pair listen to Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg in September 2003
The pair created their foundation in 2000, and work to improve access to clean water, vaccines, and education, among other issues
French Gates has a current net worth of about $12 billion; Bill Gates has a fortune worth more than $130 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Earlier this year, the pair divided personal services, such as private jets, security and other functions previously housed for both of them under an entity called Watermark.
He is now dating Paula Hurd, the widow of the late Oracle president and millionaire Mark Hurd.
She is rumored to be involved with Jon Du Pre, a former TV news anchor and author.
She has also founded her own philanthropic company, Pivotal, which has donated hundreds of millions of dollars into more than 150 organizations.
Those groups focus on areas including preparing women to run for political office, and advocating for federal policy to provide access to paid family and medical leave.
‘I formed Pivotal Ventures because I felt I could do the work there, and it’s a company not a foundation so I have more tools in my toolbox,’ she said in December 2022.
‘It feels really good to be able to be that flexible.’
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