(May 5, midday) – Bill and Melinda Gates have undoubtedly had many ups and downs in their 27-year marriage, Fox Business reports.
In fact, before walking down the aisle in 1994, Bill Gates and Melinda French had a private arrangement. With his wife’s tacit approval, Bill Gates was allowed to spend the night with his ex-girlfriend every year.
By mutual agreement, each year, Bill Gates could fly away for a weekend with software entrepreneur and venture capitalist Ann Winblad to reminisce about old times and then write new memories just for the two of them.
Gates said he asked Winblad’s permission before he courted Melinda and asked her to marry him.
Bill Gates said he and Winblad shared the same love of all things scientific, adding, “When I was debating whether to marry Melinda, I called Ann and asked her opinion.” Wimbledon gave Melinda good marks.
Wimbledon recalls, “I said at the time that she was perfect for him because she had a smart streak.” Winblad began dating Gates in 1984 until the two broke up in 1987.
According to Winblad’s LinkedIn profile, she has an impressive résumé, holding positions at several Silicon Valley companies.
Walter Isaacson wrote in a 1997 feature story, “Even now, Gates and his wife maintain a pact that he can maintain a tradition of vacations with Winblad. Each spring, as he has for the past decade, Gates and Winblad would spend a long weekend vacation together at Winblad’s beach house on North Carolina’s Outer Banks Island. There, they drove beach buggies, flew gliders and strolled the beach together.”
In their scientific conversations, they would “marvel at how the once-young pair really started a great adventure at the edge of a little-known industry and headed to the center of an amazing universe.”
What’s more, Gates and Winblad start out in a rather over-the-top dating mode. Unlike the two men who were together in reality, their dates were virtual, so the intimacy could only be sustained by discussing contemporary films. They would watch the same movie at the same time at theaters in different cities.
In the Time magazine article, Isaacson even described Gates and Winblad as “like-minded”.
In a 2005 interview, Winblad recalled that when she first started dating Gates, she thought he was “no big deal. For a while, I was even richer than him, and I had to pay for everything,” she joked. But it was a short, but memorable time.”
In 2013, Winblad again told reporters that Gates gradually exuded confidence, and she grew fond of him.
“We were walking on the beach, and then Bill told me, ‘I believe I can achieve $500 million in revenue in the future.'” Winblad recalls, “Bill had a big influence on me. But at the time I was thinking, ‘Oh, you can really start a company that big in the software industry? You’re not kidding me, are you?'”
She continued, “I remember I was asking him to write down the numbers he said on the beach. How could he do that? Then he said, ‘What bothers me is how I can go beyond $500 million in revenue.'”
“I thought to myself, ‘Are you really fretting about that?'” Winblad said, “I’m glad someone has the ambition to make $500 million.”
In 1996, Winblad told the story of how the two suddenly had a whim to go on vacation to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Once they got to Mexico, she said, “it was hard to rent a car, so by the time I finally got there, all we had was a beat-up old VW.”
“Then we booked a hotel, which was a very modest hotel. But that was okay, because we were here on a whim, and that was part of the adventure. Bill stayed outside by himself while I did the check-in.”
“Then I went out to him and asked him, ‘Where’s our car?’ He said, ‘I subleased it out.’ He subleased the old VW to some teenagers for $5 a day!” Winblad said, “He gave them the keys to the car and said, ‘We’re right here. Knock on the door and you can give us the keys back.'”
“I said, ‘These are teenagers, and we’re never going to see that car again.’ He said, ‘Maybe you’re right.’ …… But two mornings later, we got the car back, and it was still intact.”
Another story not related to Melinda that was written in that Time magazine piece was that of Gates and Winblad’s trip to Brazil. On that occasion, Gates brought a 1,100-page textbook on molecular biology, and then the two studied it together.
On another occasion, they went to a ranch in Santa Barbara together. Winblad brought a few tapes of the famous physicist Richard Feynman, and the two studied together again.
Gates admits that “even in the most serious situations,” Winblad “brought pleasure and humor.
Her professional manner always reminded me of Warren Buffett,” Gates said. She’s very smart.” Gates is also a longtime friend of Buffett’s.
On Monday, as they approached three decades of marriage, the Gateses shocked the world by announcing their divorce. Explaining the reasons for their divorce, the couple said, “We no longer believe that we can grow together as partners in the future stages of our lives.”
“Over the past 27 years, we have raised three children, built a foundation, and worked globally to empower all people to have healthy and active lives. We continue to enjoy a common philosophy on this work and will continue to work together at the foundation.”
During their 27 years of marriage, the Gateses raised three children, Jennifer, Lori and Phoebe, and in 2000, the two established the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a charitable foundation.
Currently, Gates and Melinda have a joint net worth of more than $130 billion.
Winblad did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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