“After much thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we made the decision to end our marriage.” It is with this simple sentence announcing their divorce that begins the joint press release posted by Bill and Melinda Gates on their respective Twitter accounts on Monday, May 3.
https://t.co/padmHSgWGc
The billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, and his wife, who reside in Washington State, will divorce after twenty-seven years of marriage, and twenty years of working together within their foundation.
The Gates, who have three children, have announced they will continue to “Work together within their foundation”, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which fights against poverty and disease, but which they did not believe “No longer being able to evolve together as a couple”.
Fourth richest man in the world
Bill Gates, 65, and his wife, 56, pleaded with the public to donate to their family “Space and privacy” necessary to be able “Start to adapt to this new life”. They did not say anything about the reasons that prompted them to separate.
Bill Gates is, according to the latest Forbes ranking, the fourth richest man in the world, with a fortune valued at 124 billion dollars (102 billion euros). It places him behind two other Americans, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk and Frenchman Bernard Arnault, and ahead of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
If he made his fortune thanks to Microsoft, he resigned as president in 2014 and now devotes himself mainly to philanthropy. The foundation he created with his wife is considered the largest private foundation in the world. It has spent some $ 53 billion in twenty years, and employs nearly 1,600 people, according to its official website.