Start dividing up the assets! Gates’ first transfer of more than $1.8 billion in stock to Melinda

As Bill Gates and Melinda, who have amassed a fortune of $145 billion over the past decades, prepare to divorce, details of the division of their assets are beginning to emerge and Gates has begun to transfer some of his stock to Melinda.

According to a May 3 U.S. regulatory filing, Bill Gates used his Microsoft stock proceeds to set up a holding company, Cascade Investment, to transfer more than $1.8 billion worth of stock to Melinda.

The stock transfers to Melinda included about $1.5 billion in Canadian National Railway stock and more than $300 million in shares of U.S. auto retailer AutoNation.

Cascade now holds more than $50 billion worth of stock, including shares in solid waste recycling company Republic Services, agricultural equipment maker Deere & Co and chemical energy company Ecolab.