The world’s richest man Bill Gates (Bill Gates) divorce news spread around the world, the outside world is deeply curious about the reasons for the marriage, but the Gates couple did not disclose details for the time being, the United States “New York Times” quoted close to the Gates couple of informed sources said, the pair of married 27 years of philanthropic husband and wife, the past few years several times facing a crisis of marriage, but also try to overcome the problem to save the marriage, Gates announced in March last year to withdraw from the board of directors of Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway (Berkshire Hathaway). Gates announced his withdrawal from the Microsoft board and Berkshire Hathaway board in March last year, partly because he wanted to spend more time with his family.
Gates’ wife, Melinda, was interviewed by the British Sunday Times in 2019, talking about Gates and her pre-marriage: “He (Gates) had difficulty deciding whether he should get married, but he knew perfectly well that the problem was not whether to marry me as a person, he was thinking about ‘can you balance work and family life? ‘” Melinda also revealed, “Believe me, our marriage has faced several very difficult moments and I can’t help but ask myself, ‘Am I going to make it?
The Gates couple’s marriage, they founded the charitable foundation employees are also very shocked, a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) former employees revealed that after hearing the news, the foundation colleagues with each other by text message, e-mail constantly exchange views, speculation Gates couple what happened, but also discuss the future of the foundation will not be affected by this The employees all believe that in the short term, the foundation should continue to operate as usual, and in the long term, it depends on whether the Gates couple’s divorce has torn their faces apart, and whether they can work together well in the future when planning their work.
Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation, wrote an email telling the foundation’s staff that while the Gates’ relationship would change in the future, they assured Suzman that their commitment to the foundation would remain intact, after all the hard work they had put into running it over the past 20 years.
The Gates’ three children are all adults, with their oldest daughter Jennifer, 25, son Rory, 21, and youngest daughter Phoebe, 18.
The New Times reported that the Gateses are believed to have an agreement on how to divide the property. The couple owns the largest farmland in the United States and has a large number of foreign investments. Cascade Investment, which is responsible for managing the Gates’ personal wealth, holds a large stake in the Four Seasons hotel chain, Canadian National Railway and AutoNation, the largest auto sales chain in the United States. Their joint assets also include a mansion in Washington State, approximately 1,850 square feet, with a bed-hopping room, a movie screening room, and a library with a collection of rare artifacts.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said that Gates and Melinda will continue to work together as co-chairs and trustees of the foundation. Founded in 2000, the foundation is the largest private philanthropic foundation in the United States and the largest charitable foundation in the world. The foundation focuses on equitable development in the areas of public health, education and climate, and its efforts include supporting the development of new vaccines, diagnostic tests and medical treatments, as well as supporting public broadcasting and the production of solar-powered toilets.
According to financial information published on the foundation’s website, the foundation had net assets of $43.3 billion ($1.2 trillion) at the end of 2019, while CNBC reported that the foundation has more than $51 billion ($1.4 trillion) in assets today, according to tax information. According to the website, the Gateses donated more than $36 billion to the foundation from 1994 to 2018.
The Gateses were awarded the French Legion of Honor in 2017. Euronews-EFE photo credit: AppleNews.com
David Callahan, founder of the “Philanthropy Insider” website, analyzed that Melinda, 56, will be more active in philanthropy in the future, and that the Pivotal Ventures company she founded on her own will focus on the issue of promoting women’s economic empowerment. It is possible that the shares she receives from Microsoft after the divorce will be used to set up a new foundation that will donate to issues she cares about. Callahan predicts, “She will be a major force in the philanthropic community for decades to come.”
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