The divorce between Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Bill Gates and Melinda French was finalised on Monday, news agency Reuters reported citing a court document.
Bill and Melinda, who are the co-founders of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, filed for divorce on May 3 this year after nearly 30 years of marriage, becoming the second high profile billionaire couple to separate after Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Bezos had divorced in 2019.
Bill Gates and Melinda French announced their divorce on Twitter. Amid a slew of speculations regarding their divorce, there have been a number of media reports which highlighted Bill Gates’ questionable behaviour at the workplace. A recent report by The New York Times stated that the software magnate used to pursue women who worked at Microsoft and his foundation on many occasions.
Bill Gates and Melinda French have said that they would continue to work together at their charitable foundation. They also said they had a consensus on how to divide their marital assets.
But no details of the above agreement were disclosed in Monday’s order which was filed at the King County Superior Court in Washington’s Seattle, Reuters further reported. The court has also not issued property, money or spousal judgement in the divorce of Bill Gates and Melinda French. The court said that both should comply with the terms of the separation contract which was not filed.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is known for its commendable work in the area of global public health and has spent over $50 billion for more than 20 years to bring a business approach to combating poverty and disease.
The foundation has also been widely praised for its initiatives in malaria and polio eradication, child nutrition and vaccines. And in 2020, as the world witnessed the emergence of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, the foundation committed $1.75 billion to virus relief.