Billionaires Bill and Melinda Gates Officially Divorced After 27 Years of Marriage

Bill and Melinda Gates announced in a May joint statement that they had made the decision to end their 27-year union “after a great deal of thought and a lot of work” on the relationship.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, 65, and “Moment of Lift” author Melinda Gates, 56, have finalized their divorce, and agreed neither party will receive spousal support, according to court documents observed by Us Weekly on Monday. 

The Gates’ 27-year marriage officially comes to an end nearly three months after they both took to social media to announce their separation. 

Per the filing, the court found their “marriage is irretrievably broken” and all property will be divided pursuant to a separate “Separation Contract.” 

Though the couple has three children, none of them are minors, so neither child support nor custody factored into the divorce. 

As for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the two initially claimed they would “continue to work together.”

“These resources would be completely separate from the foundation’s endowment, which would not be affected,” the Gates Foundation detailed. 

After the May announcement of Bill and Melinda Gates’ uncoupling, several reports emerged, providing a variety of allegations as to why the couple could not “grow together,” as their joint statement claimed. 

“Microsoft received a concern in the latter half of 2019 that Bill Gates sought to initiate an intimate relationship with a company employee in the year 2000,” the spokesperson said at the time. “A committee of the Board reviewed the concern, aided by an outside law firm to conduct a thorough investigation. Throughout the investigation, Microsoft provided extensive support to the employee who raised the concern.” 

However, a Microsoft spokesperson denied that this was the reason for Bill Gates’ “transition off the board.” 

Since their separation, Melinda Gates has not halted her own philanthropy efforts, and recently teamed up with MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and billionaire Lynn Schusterman to donate $40 million to the four project winners of the “Equality Can’t Wait Challenge” – a funding competition that seeks to expand “women’s power and influence” in the US.” 

Sourse: sputniknews.com